


An Angel Silhouetted

by plantboycharms



Series: Angel Eyes [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: 50K, Circus, F/F, Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Magic, Nonbinary Character, Nonbinary kenma, Racial slurs, Slow Burn, There are other ships but they're background, There's also some #intimate scenes but they're not #nsfw, Wingfic, Wings, angel - Freeform, dance, hashtags in a tag?, i put violence for one scene towards the end, ill mark around it but it's really not graphic I just wanted to be sure, truly it serves no purpose to the story they just Are
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-01
Updated: 2017-12-02
Packaged: 2019-02-08 23:29:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 49,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12875352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/plantboycharms/pseuds/plantboycharms
Summary: There is a certain kind of joy that comes from flying that cannot be replicated.Not on a trampoline, or a trapeze, or high on a tightrope. Not planes, either. Being high in the air, supported or unsupported, it didn't matter. Nothing was the same.Suga hadn't felt that kind of joy in a long time.A very, very long time.In which half-angel Suga rebels against everything he's ever been told about the circus he stars in, dances with Daichi, and rebuilds himself anew.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is what I did for nanowrimo and wow has it been a labor of love.  
> Get so ready and so stoked for this shit y'all.

There is a certain kind of joy that comes from flying that cannot be replicated.

Not on a trampoline, or a trapeze, or high on a tightrope. Not planes, either. Being high in the air, supported or unsupported, it didn't matter. Nothing was the same.

Suga hadn't felt that kind of joy in a long time.

A very, very long time.

It was dark and Suga was running across the dirt, crouched low, wings pressed to his back. He climbed his ladder quickly, listening to the swell of the music and watching the other performers, bright in the spotlights, gauging how much time he had left. He was only seconds behind today, but his wings had to stay put. The dark could only hide so much, and someone would notice if he fluttered.  
He reached the top of the ladder and stepped on his mark just as the lights above him slammed on.

Asariel, the angel ruler of the moon, stood bathed in light, wings spread, glittering silver and white in the spots trained on him.

Suga was sweating, chest heaving from the climb, ridiculously hot in his costume under the spotlights. His face calculatingly still and serene, he lifted one arm, then the next, to the cues in the music. He'd done it thousands of times. He could do it in his sleep.

Asariel closed his wings tight to his body and leapt from the stand, earning gasps from the crowd as he dropped fast. As he neared the ground, his majestic wings opened, letting him glide forward and flutter to a stop, landing gently on a silver stage. He opened his mouth and beautiful singing rang through the hall, bringing tears to the eyes of the audience. A real angel, singing for them.

Suga resisted the urge to wipe the sweat off his face for what felt like the billionth time. He leapt and pirouetted, opening and closing his wings to give him more lift, less drag, more drama. They weren't necessary in this part, really, more of a hindrance than anything. But he was the one dancing, so they were choreographed in. Wasn't like he could take them off. A particularly high jete was accompanied by his whole wingspan, feathers fluttering as he reached up, gazing past his fingertips. As he came down he saw a flash of dark in the directors tent and almost forgot to continue lip-syncing in his surprise. Almost. He couldn't forget at this point. Every night for years and years he had preformed this very routine. It wasn't going anywhere.

Asariel finished a series of a la seconde turns and pliéd his standing leg, letting the working leg devellopé up high as his arms and wings raised with it. The crowd gasped and he glowed in it. The music was wrapping up, and the crowd could feel it. They watched as he flapped, triumphant, arms and wings out in his final pose, an angel silhouetted by the silver of the lights, holding the last note as the music creschendoed and then stopped. The lights slammed off, and he was gone. The crowd exploded, emotional and amazed by what they had seen. Other performers made their way out, new music already on, but the standing ovation would drown it out for at least a few minutes.

Suga sat hunched over in the dark under his little silver stage. What had that darkness been? Surely not a new act? He had been the biggest money draw in the show for years, and he wasn't willing to give that up. He saw how the others (the freaks, if you were the directors) were treated. There was nothing to do to stop it, only care to provide after it was over.  
He sat under the stage, waiting for the closing group number. At some point his feet started to tingle. He distracted himself by drawing diagrams in the dirt of what he would do in the next part. It was a group piece, almost everyone appeared, and they showed off their particular skills. He didn't really feel like dancing any more today, but he had very little choice. This was his life, but he wasn't the one controlling it, really. 

Asariel reappeared, surrounded by girls in angel costumes, dancing in circles around him. He was ethereal, silvers and whites, the glitter painted across his cheeks catching the light and matching the girls' makeup, and he turned with them to the dramatic music. He looped an arm through the trapeze that was lowering itself behind him, and gazed upwards to the sky as it began to lift him.

Suga got prepared for the next trick. He smiled blandly at the girls, who all looked back at him with their showgirl grins pasted firmly in place. He put his arm through the trapeze and braced himself, staring up into the light, blinded by the brightness.

Asariel the angel spun and twirled, aerial flips assisted by his glorious wings, spiraling down out of a flip and opening his wings to catch himself in a huge gust of wind that blew popcorn into the faces of the children in the front few rows. Asariel the angel bowed to thunderous applause, his thousandth standing ovation in a row, surrounded by his fellow performers. Asariel the angel caught a rose as it was thrown to him, tucking it behind his ear into his glorious silver hair graciously. Asariel the angel bowed again as the lights faded.

Suga waited until the lights were down to let his shoulders slump. Suga panted a little, allowing his exhaustion to catch up with him. Sure, using his wings to help him do flips was nice, handy even, but it certainly wore him out. They weren't meant for flight, not like this anyway, and he was exhausted. He always was, after the night was over. It wasn't easy, being Asariel the angel.

The performers rushed off, as practiced in their exit as they were in the rest, to make way for the crew to come clean up as the house lights went up. Suga glanced at the directors tent one more time, but they were gone. He had probably imagined the dark he had seen. The directors were never anything less than gaudy in their suits. Expensive, of course, but gaudy.

When he got back to his room, costume off and shower done, ready to flop on his bed with a heat pack between his wings, however, he was met with an unexpected sight. The directors hadn't visited in a while, only when he needed to change his routine or when they were about to get back on the road. It had seemed fine, and they weren't scheduled to move for a while, he thought, suddenly frantic. His voice hadn't changed, so there was no need to re-record his song, like they had when he had matured past being a child. The crowds were still moved. Their numbers hadn't dropped. What did they want?

When they heard him open the door to his room, they turned. Then Suga saw him. The dark man, that he had seen in their booth earlier. His feathers fluffed up instinctively, and Suga stared at him curiously, trying to get a read on him.

From up close, he could tell that he wasn't bad dark, just dark. Dark hair, tan skin, deep eyes, a black shirt. He looked Japanese, from first glance. His energy wasn't negative. This was a good man, or at the very least, a neutral man. Nothing to fear here. He willed his feathers to lay back down, it was somewhat embarrassing to react to any new person he met as a threat. He broke out a smile, ready to exchange platitudes with the young man in front of him.  
"Well, hello there. It's good to meet you. I thought I saw someone new from my stand up there, but you know how the lights are."

The man stared at him, stunned for a moment, before jolting to his feet. He bowed quickly, speaking to the floor, a quick, accented, "sorry for intruding," and then "nice to meet you," still staring directly at the floor.

Ah, Suga thought. Definitely Japanese.  
"Nice to meet you," he replied in Japanese, smiling as the man's eyes snapped up to him.  
"S-Sawamura Daichi," the dark man replied.  
"Sugawara Koushi. To what do I owe the pleasure?" Suga smiled broadly, watching as Sawamura stood slowly, eyes darting all over Suga's face, clearly trying to find clues as to how he knew Japanese. "I was raised by my mother in Japan, Sawamura-san. I know I don't look it."  
Sawamura blushed bright red, color crawling across his face and down his neck, stuttering "oh, no, I wasn't, I didn't mean to stare, I'm sorry if I-" he bowed deeply, speaking to the floor again, "I did not mean to offend, please forgive me."  
Suga laughed, and Sawamura stood again, relaxing at the sound, but blush still in place. "You did nothing of the sort, Sawamura-san. I just know that's everyone's first question."

He turned his eyes back to the directors, remembering suddenly that they were there and staring between them.

"So sorry, gentlemen," he said, switching easily back to English, "Sawamura-san and I were just introducing ourselves. Japanese culture, you know."  
Sawamura's blush didn't budge. His eyes darted around the room, and his fingers twitched a little. He seemed embarrassed, and Suga wondered if he had overstepped by speaking to him in Japanese in front of the resolutely American this-is-America-speak-English directors. He usually didn't stray from English or, occasionally, French, with some of the contortionists. Even his other Japanese friends, and there were a few of them, tended to stick to English.

"It's fine, Asariel. We figured you'd get along, so we brought him to room with you. Nobody else had room for another, and you're both Japs, so we thought we'd save space by putting him with you." The first man to speak kept his eyes on Suga, even while Sawamura's eyes snapped up to him in shock. Maybe this was news to him, too, Suga thought. Best not to make a scene about it, especially with Sawamura so panicked. (It didn't help that he was a very attractive man, Suga noticed it more and more every time he looked at him. Strong jaw, deep eyes, a very soft smile, and he clearly worked out. Suga wasn't one to blush at every cute boy that he saw, but this was certainly a handsome man.)

"Well won't that be a blast. Should we expect another bed, or will you be sending him a tatami mat?" Suga joked lightly.  
"A what?" The man replied, tilting his head in confusion.  
"Never mind. Just a joke for us Japs." Suga said, throwing the slur back at them, waiting for someone to realize their mistake. They never did.

"We'll get a bed in here soon. Maybe tomorrow. I'll send down a sleeping bag later, with the rest of Daichi's stuff. You boys settle in. We'll talk logistics tomorrow." The director said, and the rest nodded. They had clearly already talked logistics, they always made decisions first and asked questions later. Suga shrugged.  
"Well, alright. If there's anything else...?" He asked, clearly dismissing the crowd. They shuffled past him, and he let the door slam behind them. A second later, the only one brave enough to speak stuck his head back in one more time, this time looking for Sawamura.  
"Daichi? Eyes open."  
The door slammed one more time, and Suga and Sawamura were left in silence.

 

The silence stretched for a moment or two, before Suga picked up his shower bag and toted it over to his tiny bathroom to put it under the sink.  
"So, Sawamura-san, do you prefer Japanese or English? Or would you rather it be a surprise every time I open my mouth?" Suga asked, semi-serious, while putting his things away.  
"Japanese is more... Comfortable. But..." Sawamura hedged, still standing awkwardly by the door.  
"Not in front of them, unless we're telling secrets?" Suga asked, looking up from his crouch by the sink to waggle his eyebrows jokingly.  
"Uh... Yeah, I guess." Sawamura answered, cracking a tiny smile. "How did you know?"  
"I avoided speaking it around those racist fucks too, at the beginning. Still do, to be honest." Suga stood up, wincing as his knees cracked, and walked over to his bed. He was truly exhausted, weekend shows were always the hardest, but not willing to go to bed until Sawamura was furnished.

As if called by that thought, there was a curt rap on the door.  
"Ah, there he is!" Suga trilled, jumping up.  
Daichi didn't move. He hadn't moved. Was he okay? Maybe he didn't move much. There were strange types here, for sure, and he hadn't yet said why he was there. Crew, maybe? Not security, they had their own trailer. A new act, probably. Suga didn't think on it too hard, just skipped over to the door.  
"Hello, Kageyama! I thought they would send you!"  
"Suga-san. Sorry for intruding, Sawamura-san's items are here, and a sleeping bag." Kageyama replied, holding out a bag and a rolled sleeping bag.  
"So I see, and so I was told it would be. Thank you. Do you want to come in?" Suga replied, amused, taking the proffered items.  
"No, thank you. Hinata is waiting for me. He gets antsy when I'm out." Kageyama rolled his eyes somewhat, but seemed serious.  
"He's always antsy, Kageyama. Leave him with Asahi to climb on sometime, or bring him with you! We should hang out. It's been weeks!"  
Kageyama bowed a little, retreating. "Of course. We'll see you tomorrow."  
"Good night, Kageyama!" Suga said brightly, waving as Kageyama melted into the darkness.

"God, it surprises me every time he does that," he said, more to himself than to Sawamura.  
"Does what?" Sawamura asked, finally really looking at Suga, confusion on his face.  
"Ah, Kageyama and darkness have a kind of connection. Not so much that he controls it, but that they work together. It's handy for us, though. He doesn't perform with us, but he keeps us as out of sight as possible when we're not actively performing. Helps the audience focus on who they're supposed to be focused on. It's really helpful for me, I stand out like nothing else, and Hinata, who makes fire. That's why they stick together so much, even off stage." Suga explained, starting to lay out the sleeping bag.  
"Makes... Fire?" Sawamura repeated, staring still.  
"Yeah, makes fire. Did you ever watch Avatar: the Last Airbender?"  
Daichi shook his head a little, brow furrowed.  
"Oh, it's very good. We'll have to see it sometime. We don't get a lot of access to TV, but Kenma got it for us so Hinata could see it. Well, the firebender analogy is lost on you, but that's ok. It's not really the same thing. It's... Mm... He can create fire from his hands, or even breathe it. He does that a lot. He also runs a lot hotter than a normal person, and his heart is a lot faster. Scared the shit out of me first time I noticed. But that's why he's so antsy. He's just faster. And warmer. So he, like, sticks to Kageyama. I think the dark he brings is cooler than normal shade, so it makes him, like... Less warm? It's comfortable, he says. Kageyama complains about him all the time, but he likes Hinata. It's pretty obvious. We're all just waiting for them to get it together and get together, y'know?" Suga chucked at the look on Sawamura's face, standing up from the sleeping bag on the floor and flopping onto his own bed.

"I know, they're a handful. All of them are. You'll get used to it, if you stick around. Are you performing with us, then?"  
Sawamura stiffened a little, but replied "yeah, yes, performing." with a casual tone that was almost definitely forced.  
"Alright." Suga said lightly, not going to push anything. "Well, Sawamura-san, as much as I tried, your bed isn't likely to get any comfier, so you may as well take it as it is until they give you a real one. Or you can stand, but even I don't sleep standing, and I'm the closest to a bird that we have around here."  
Sawamura jumped, looking down at the sleeping bag that he had apparently not realized Suga had set up.  
"Oh! Sugawara-san, you didn't have to- I could have- thank you for this!" Sawamura stammered, embarrassed, as Suga waved it off. "Or, do you rather Asariel?" He asked, as an afterthought.  
"Oh god no, definitely not. They gave me that name, I hate it. Just Suga is fine, though." Suga replied, shuffling himself backwards on his bed so he could cover his legs with the blankets.  
"Well, then... You can call me Daichi." He blushed, looking away from Suga's bright gaze and sitting cross legged on the sleeping bag.  
"Alright, goodnight then, Daichi." Suga smiled, and his breath caught a little when Daichi looked up from under short, dark lashes to smile a real, warm smile.  
"Good night, Suga."  
And when Suga flicked off the light and lay down on his stomach, wings loose at his sides, another silence fell between them, but this time it felt a little more comfortable.  
*  
The next morning was full of introductions.  
"Each guild has a trailer, see, and they live together. So sometimes it's just two people, or four, or-" Suga pointed at a huge trailer, all the way at the back "-it's the entire backup dance group. There are like 12 of them, I think. And then I was alone, of course, but not anymore. And we all shower in the same place, usually wherever the campground has a shower setup, so we have to take showers at approximately the speed of light. I get a free couple of minutes extra for feather reasons, but I usually just wait until last so everyone can get done and ready for bed." He gestured at his wings, ruffling them a little.  
Daichi was following, long strides keeping up easily with Suga's hops and skips. He was excited! This was fun!  
"So over here is Hinata and Kageyama, you can see how it's darker, yeah? And Asahi and Noya are right next door. Noya spends most of his time on Asahi's shoulders, but they do separate sometimes. Asahi is the strong man, so he just kinda stands up there and flexes, but it's always funny to watch him press Noya as if he's not, y'know, a pixie. Well, not a literal pixie. They're not really very easy to keep in one place, unless the magic in their blood is diluted at least a bit. He's half fae, so he's really light, but he doesn't fly. And he's relatively impervious to minor damage, so even if Asahi drops him, he's fine. It's pretty funny, actually." Suga gestured farther to the side.

"The contortionists are in that one, and most of them are French. They don't speak much English at all, but they're very nice. Some of them danced before they came here, too, so we get along, and we do barre together sometimes. Past them is crew, then security, then ringleaders and announcers, and the directors don't sleep here, so we don't see them unless they need us."  
"The dancers are nice, too. Don't let them make you think they're talking about you, or if they are, assume it's about how you're cute and move on. They're really very good kids. Yachi and Shimizu are nice, and just about everyone is in love with Shimizu, you'll see why when you meet her later, but she only has eyes for Yachi."

"So do you know everyone here?" Daichi said, tripping over a rock but maintaining eye contact.  
"Ah, careful!" Suga said, grabbing Daichi's elbow, then dropping it as quickly as he could without making it weird. He didn't know this man yet, he reminded himself. "Yes, I know everyone. I grew up here, on the road with everyone, so I've seen some new acts but most of them have been the same since the beginning. We're like family. But don't worry!" He turned to look at Daichi, giving him a bright smile. "Just don't call us freaks and we'll all get along wonderfully!"  
Daichi blinked, as if clearing his head, and stood up straighter, squaring his shoulders to reply "I would never." This was a serious and solemn Daichi, Suga noted. He'd been an embarrassed and awkward Daichi before, but this suited him more. Suga smiled even bigger. He liked Daichi already. 

"Well anyway, that's the long and short of it. You'll meet the rest of the acts through rehearsals and things, we'll all be tripping over each other when they add you to the last act, anyway."  
Suga started walking again, heading towards the main tent.  
"Oh, no," Daichi replied, following after him hastily. "I won't be in the final act, I don't dance."  
"Everyone's in the final act, Daichi, no getting out of it. You can do barre with me in the mornings, it'll help. You're athletic, you'll catch on." Suga looked Daichi up and down, taking note of the tight t-shirt and stretchy pants. "You're already dressed. Good."  
"No, really, I don't-"  
"No up for debate. If you room with me you do barre with me, and nobody else has space. Sorry!" Suga chirped, throwing open the tent's flaps to enter dramatically into the rudimentary dance studio that had been set up in the middle of the tent.

"We don't have a lot of space, but we all need to use the dance floor, so whoever has first class sets it up and then we bring in whatever we need from there. Hinata practices first, it's handy to warm up the place before I come in, so he rolls the floor out." Suga explained, pulling the barres out from the walls and carrying them into the middle of the room. "Don't ever drag these, you'll mess up the floor. We'll leave them when we leave, the contortionists like to use them sometimes. They also bring down the aerial stuff-" he pointed to the silks and hoops hooked to the support beams on the sides of the tent "-but I have to use the actual trapeze so I do that later."

"Sorry it's a lot, you'll get used to it soon enough." He finished his lecture flopped cross legged on the ground, pulling his ballet flats on. "Come on, we'll get you warmed up. There are two sides on the barre, which is nice, but you might need to be in front of me at first, so I can make sure you're aligned. You can't be behind me, obviously."  
Daichi's eyes darted to his wings, then back to his face. He looked overwhelmed.  
"Up up! Shoes off, they'll scuff the floor, and you'll want bare feet anyways. Until we start turning, but that'll be a while. You'll have proper shoes by then, I'm sure." Suga flapped once, heavily, and he lifted easily to his feet.  
Suga used a finger to close Daichi's mouth as he walked past, spinning to walk backwards to the barre. "Coming?"

*

Two hours later and Suga's feathers were damp with sweat, but at least he was upright.  
"I think I'm dead, Suga" Daichi groaned from the floor, arms and legs spread, staring up at the underside of the tent's points.  
"Oh, you're fine. This is nothing. Tomorrow you'll be sore, though. Which is why we need to stretch out again, come on. The rest will be in soon, we gotta go." Suga nudged Daichi's hip with a toe, an amused smile on his face.  
"Leave me here to die" Daichi replied, throwing an elbow over his face and turning away from Suga.  
"Are you always this dramatic?" Suga chuckled.  
"Only when someone tries to kill me. Which isn't often, you know. The first few unsuccessful times, word gets out."  
But he took Suga's proffered hand anyways, letting him pull him to his feet.  
"You're heavy," Suga grumbled, stepping back to the barre.  
"You're a sadist," Daichi replied, watching him lift a leg easily to the barre and bend over to press his face into his knee.  
"Maybe" Suga mumbled into his knee. "What's it to you?"  
"What am I doing, since I can't do what you're doing, obviously." Daichi replied, slightly pinker than could be blamed on the exercise, clearly changing the subject.  
"Can you get your leg straight if it's on the barre?" Suga asked, letting him.  
"Uh.......no." Daichi stared down at his leg as if it was betraying him by not being flexible enough to sit on a barre.  
Suga lifted his own leg off and walked around the barre. "Okay, this is how we'll modify. Don't sweat it. Well, do sweat it. Being warm prevents injury. Don't worry about it. Whatever."

*

When he finally made it back to his room (their room, he reminded himself. He was no longer alone.) he was exhausted. He flopped down on his bed, face pressed to his pillow, and groaned.  
"Um... Where can I... Am I allowed to shower?" Daichi's voice came from behind him, and Suga turned his head to stare blearily at him.  
"Oh, yeah. It's outside and to the left, the weird brick building. It's an odd time, so you shouldn't be bothered. I have extra towels under the sink, if you need one."  
Daichi bowed his head a little, acknowledging him, and took a towel before heading out. Suga set an alarm on his phone to make sure he wouldn't sleep through lunch, then let his eyes slide closed. He'd regret sleeping in his ballet clothes later, but that wasn't important now.

Suga opened his eyes a little, and found himself very glad he hadn't moved his face back to the wall. Daichi had come back with just Suga's towel slung around his hips, and was facing away from him, still somewhat shiny from the shower. He knelt down to dig through his bag, presumably to find boxers. Suga closed his eyes, out of embarrassment more than politeness, (he'd seen everyone here naked at least once, it was the result of years and years of quick changes) and by the time he had opened them again, Daichi was boxer clad and using the towel to dry his hair. Suga let himself admire Daichi's muscles for a moment, eyes wandering across his chest, until Daichi re-emerged from the towel, and he snapped his eyes closed. Pretending to be asleep would be childish, he thought, doing it anyway.  
Daichi turned away, and Suga moved on the bed, pretending to wake up again, noisily, to catch his attention.

"Oh, Suga. I'm sorry, did I wake you?" Daichi said, clutching the towel to his chest guiltily.  
"No, no," Suga yawned, spreading his wings a little and flapping down sharply to lift just enough to slide his knees up under himself, now kneeling on the bed. "You're fine, I should wash up for lunch anyway." He didn't miss the way Daichi's eyes widened at his wings, but it was, frankly, habit.  
"Sorry if I startled you, this is why they have me alone instead of with the dancers, or Kageyama and Hinata. I take up space without noticing it." Suga laughed, gesturing towards his wings as he clambered off the bed.  
"It's... Fine. They're part of you." Daichi turned away, back to his bag, digging out clothes again.

"Yeah, you're right," Suga said amiably, heading over to the bathroom to splash water on his face. "Get dressed, it'll be time for lunch soon. We eat lunch together because we can't eat dinner together, and it's when we make announcements. Good luck." He smiled, eyebrows raised, as Daichi whipped around.  
"Oh, no." He said, deadpan, but panic in his eyes.  
"Oh please. All you need to worry about is all of the girls fawning over you. Some of them are young, don't let them lie to you." Suga said sternly. They didn't see a lot of new faces, let alone handsome young men.  
"Why would I need to worry about the girls... Uh... On me?" Daichi looked genuinely confused, so Suga gestured down at him, wordlessly letting his eyes flicker over his shoulders as an answer.  
"Oh." Daichi flushed and jumped to his feet, almost falling over in his haste to get his pants on.  
Suga chuckled, but turned around to get a new shirt from his closet. Fastening the Velcro under his wings to close the back of the shirt over where they protruded from his shoulder blades was easy after years of practice, but Daichi had a shirt on by the time he turned back around. Shame, Suga thought, then chided himself. Stop flirting with your roommate, dummy, you've never had a worse idea in your life. You don't even know this guy.

"Ready?" Suga quirked an eyebrow, and Daichi nodded. The two of them headed out together, walking back to the tent in silence.  
Once inside, Daichi looked around, noting how it had changed entirely, again, in the few hours they'd been away, wandering around the campsite and showering and such. The dance floor was rolled out of the way again, and tables had been dragged from somewhere to house everyone and their lunches. The majority were already there, plates in front of them, with people jumping up and down to grab more food already.  
"Here, grab a plate and some protein, you'll need it to regenerate muscles after that workout. I usually sit over there," Suga pointed to the table where Hinata was chattering away to Kageyama, "but you can sit wherever, if you'd rather get to know the dancers better." He accompanied it with a wink, but Daichi just looked a little uncomfortable.  
"Okay, never mind, it was a joke, get some food. Go." Suga continued, poking Daichi in the back towards the tables.

When they sat down, Suga was quick to make introductions. "Daichi, you've met Kageyama Tobio. Next to him is Hinata Shouyou, the orange hair, then Nishinoya Yuu and Azumane Asahi. On the other side of the table is Yamaguchi Tadashi and Tsukishima Kei, they work crew with Kozume Kenma there, who does sound when they're not too busy playing video games. Kenma, Tsukishima, Yamaguchi, Asahi, Noya, Hinata, Kageyama, this is Sawamura Daichi, and he rooms with me as of last night."  
The group stared up at Daichi, silent as he offered a "nice to meet you" and a bow, until Noya let out a low whistle.  
"Daaamn, Suga! You lucked out, huh? Nice." Noya was looking Daichi up and down, and it was Suga's turn to blush bright red.  
"Noya! Behave yourself! He's new!" He snapped, embarrassed but reproachful nonetheless.  
"I'm just saying! He could give Asahi a run for his money, hm?" Noya said, nudging Asahi with an elbow before continuing. "Nishinoya Yuu, but call me Noya. Everyone's favorite faerie boy, in more ways than one." He laughed, hand resting lightly on Asahi's thigh. "And this is Asahi."  
"Statistically impossible, Yuu. I'm about four times as strong as the average person." Asahi mumbled, then backpedaled. "Not saying you're normal! Or not strong! Or not normal! Or anything!" And it was finally Daichi's turn to reassure him that he hadn't offended anyone.  
"We know what you meant." Kageyama spit out, picking at his sandwich.  
"Oh, okay. Okay,"Asahi said, looking down as Daichi laughed a little. Ha had sat down next to Suga, across from the freckled boy who seemed to be Yamaguchi.

"Hi, Sawamura." Yamaguchi offered, shyly. "It's nice to meet you. Right Tsukki?" He nudged the blond next to him, who glanced up to grunt a "yeah" before going back to staring blankly across the room. Suga laughed, it was so like Tsukishima.  
"He's always like that, Daichi, don't be too offended." Suga chuckled, earning him a glare from Tsukishima.  
"It's fine, don't worry about it. And Yamaguchi, just Daichi is fine." He said, speaking to the table at large.  
Once the excitement of new person had died down, everyone went back to their sandwiches. "Eat, you'll need the protein. Muscles don't regenerate on their own, you know." Suga said, nudging Daichi in the ribs with an elbow. Daichi looked like he was going to say something, but just picked up the sandwich and took a huge bite. Suga dropped it. If it was important, he would have said it. All in good time.

When everyone was about done eating, one of the ringleaders stood up and called for attention, starting announcements.  
"Alright folks, you've probably noticed that we have a newcomer in our midst, so we might as well introduce him first. Daichi Sawamura over there is our newest member, so expect a new act in the next couple of weeks. Let's all give him a warm welcome, please."  
Daichi stared at the speaker, not moving, until Suga hissed "stand up, wave, come on" into his ear. As if jolted into action, Daichi stood, receiving his applause, and waved around. He bowed a little, then sat back down. The ringleader kept talking, now droning on about safety measures and upped security or something, but Suga wasn't paying attention.  
"That was awful." Daichi said under his breath to him, and he laughed quietly, trying not to draw attention back to them.  
"Yeah, he's not the most... Fun, of the announcers. Wait until you meet Tanaka, you'll like him more."  
"If you say so." Daichi said, turning to listen to the announcements. Suga was distracted. He had known Daichi all of a day, and here they were, whispering to each other during the announcements like elementary schoolers. He was too comfortable around him, too fast, and it made him a little uncomfortable how NOT uncomfortable he was. Daichi was just... Easy to be around. Friendly. Nice. Easy on the eyes, too.  
Suga decided he didn't really mind.


	2. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You can't go out?" Daichi had asked, a little confused. How could they not be allowed to leave? He knew he was here for a reason, but that seemed extreme.  
> "Of course not! We're valuable. Or vulnerable, or whatever they try to call it. We know it's just about the money though. We're not stupid." Suga had laughed again, stirring over the little camp stove. "Bring me two bowls from that cabinet, it's about done. Put some rice in them while you're at it, actually."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whom wants to know what Daichi's talent is ;) good news, you will

Daichi's head was buzzing with names and occupations, talents and quirks. It had been a very long day, that was for sure. He was trying not to let his eyes closed, sitting cross legged on the floor of Suga's little trailer, a bowl of rice in his hand. It turned out Suga could cook in the tiny kitchen to the side of the bathroom, but all he seemed to have ingredients for was spicy mapo tofu. Daichi asked about it, and Suga had replied with a laugh and a "well we can ask them to bring us things, as long as we pay for them, since we can go out, but surprisingly the middle of the desert in Arizona isn't great for Japanese ingredients, so this is what's left over from last time we were somewhere remotely diverse. I also maybe get more of this than anything else, but we don't need to talk about that. Wait until we get to California, though. LA has WAY more Japanese foods, I guess. It was good last time we went, but we don't get there until summer. I'd love to go to Little Tokyo someday, to see how it compares to actual Tokyo. And then actual Tokyo, I guess." He tacked on, an afterthought. "I haven't really been there since I was tiny."  
"You can't go out?" Daichi had asked, a little confused. How could they not be allowed to leave? He knew he was here for a reason, but that seemed extreme.  
"Of course not! We're valuable. Or vulnerable, or whatever they try to call it. We know it's just about the money though. We're not stupid." Suga had laughed again, stirring over the little camp stove. "Bring me two bowls from that cabinet, it's about done. Put some rice in them while you're at it, actually."

Musing over what he had heard, Daichi ate his food slowly. He was leaned against the wall, and kept almost nodding off backwards. Suga was sitting on the floor too, leaning back onto his bed, looking tired from rehearsal but much more awake-looking. He had taken a nap earlier, Daichi reminded himself. He thought about what Suga had said.  
Were they really prisoners here? Was he like them? He wasn't really sure. It hadn't seemed too sketchy when he had been signing the contracts, but this new information was making him doubt it a little. He would ask later, he guessed, rolling around potential questions in his mind.  
"-Daichi?" Suga's voice cut into his thoughts, and Daichi realized that he had been speaking, presumably asking a question, and he had heard absolutely none of it.  
"Sorry, I was thinking," Daichi said, sheepish, "what did you say?"  
"I just asked where you were going to be during the show tonight." Suga said, smiling knowingly.  
"Oh, right. Uh, with the directors again, I guess. They wanted to talk about where to put my piece, I think." Daichi looked down, still feeling guilty.  
"Well, that'll be fun! The show's great, if you ask me." Suga winked at him again, standing and sashaying off to the kitchen. He did that a lot, Daichi noticed. He sure was friendly. He had expected an angel to be more... Aloof, he guessed. Holier-than-thou. Aside from the wings, you'd think he was just another person. Just another graceful, ethereally beautiful, silver haired and rosy cheeked person.  
Okay, maybe he was a little different than just another person. But in a good way.

Suga started putting on makeup after washing the dishes, and Daichi sat on the floor, watching him, while he chattered on about the show and when everyone had arrived, how the order flowed to keep the audience on their toes, and how he was excited to see what Daichi's piece would do to the show.  
"Not in a bad way! I just wonder what it'll do to our flow, you know? We might need to rearrange some things, that's always interesting. Redoing our entrances and exits and stuff. Adding in Hinata-kun was the last time that we had to move around, and he's been here for years!" He was facing the mirror with a powder puff in his hand, but he was mostly looking at Daichi in the mirror and gesturing around with whatever makeup article he had in his hand at the time. It was kind of cute, how he was so easily distracted.

Daichi hadn't failed to notice that Suga never asked anything personal, hadn't even asked him what his power was, or if he had one. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. It was kind of hard to bring up, and he kinda wanted him to know, but maybe it wasn't such a good idea after all, based on his... Position. He would find out once his piece was finished, but that wouldn't be for a while. If he even ended up with a piece.   
Well, it would come up soon enough. No need to stress about it, Daichi reasoned.

Soon enough came faster than expected.

They were just walking to the tent, ready to head in for the night's show, and Daichi tripped over the same DAMN rock he had tripped on earlier. But this time, he was distracted by the shimmer of glitter high on Suga's cheekbones (highlighter, Suga had explained earlier, as he went through his makeup routine with Daichi, who was watching politely from the floor.) and took the tumble all the way down, scraping his hands and getting dirt all over his pants.  
"Oh, oh my, here!" Suga gasped, grabbing at Daichi's elbows to pull him back to his feet. "Let me see, you must have scraped your- oh." Suga stopped, flipping his hands over to see perfectly unbroken skin. "But there's blood on the floor..." He mumbled, trailing off.  
"Oh, yeah I... I'm a quick healer." Daichi said, also staring at his hands, still palm up in Suga's. They had betrayed him, dirt still stuck firmly to the skin that he was sure had been torn open moments ago.

They both stared at them for another moment, before both realizing that they were standing with hands joined in the middle of the walkway to the tent. Daichi took his hands back at about the exact moment that Suga dropped them.  
"Well, anyway! We should go!" Suga said, starting to walk again, and maybe it was Daichi's imagination but he looked a little pinker, even through the makeup.  
Daichi hurried after him, brushing at the dirt on the knees of his pants as he walked, this time more careful to watch his step. They were in a campground, after all.

As the show started, Daichi snuck out of the backstage area and climbed the stands to the directors' section, which was closed off to the rest of the audience. It was almost like being in the box seats of a theater, Daichi thought, if he ignored the fact that it was all canvas and poles for supports.

The first half of the show was uneventful, just as amazing as it was last night, but without anything to really focus on. Maybe because he had just watched it last night, Daichi reasoned.  
When intermission came, he turned to the man next to him, asking "when do you think would be a good time for my part? I didn't see anything extraordinarily perfect, but I don't really... Do this."  
The man sneered a little, replying with a snide "if we give you a part, it'll be right before Asariel's, obviously. We need you and him together as much as possible. No wiggle room. Obviously."  
The other questions on his mind died before they made it to his mouth. That was answer enough. Obviously. 

They were definitely, one hundred percent trapped here. And that contract he had signed the other day? Legally binding didn't begin to cover it.

Why had he been so naive?

Suga's part came towards the end, so Daichi had plenty of time to panic about the evil men he was trapped with before the room was doused in a darkness that was too absolute for it to NOT be Kageyama's doing. Daichi only had a moment to freak out about the darkness before it was lit up by a spotlight, and, more importantly, a shimmering Suga. Daichi's breath caught in his throat at the sight. Standing high above the crowd on a tiny platform, arms and wings outstretched, he was radiant. Daichi couldn't help but think it. He didn't want to, but it was there. It surprised him how fast the thought hit him. He tucked it away, watching with bated breath as Suga jumped from the platform for the first time of the night.

By the time the song ended, there were tears in Daichi's eyes again. He blinked them back, trying to keep his emotions in check. The song was in French, mostly, so he didn't really know what it was about, but Suga, his dancing, the wings, the whole thing was meant to pull his heartstrings, specifically. Daichi was sure of it.  
The man next to him leaned over and pointed. "See? Now. The freak's under that stage. We need eyes on him. That's where you come in."  
Daichi stopped himself from replying, opting to nod silently instead. Suga wasn't a freak. He was kind. He was friendly. He was smart. Who was this man to call him a freak?

He didn't reappear for a few more minutes, popping out at the end for the final number. Everyone was dancing, and now that Daichi knew more people, he could see Hinata's bright flames from where he was doing flips, and Yachi's shiny hair from the ensemble around Suga. This time, he tore his eyes reluctantly from Suga to take in the whole scene. Last time, that had been the farthest from his mind.

The standing ovation didn't take Daichi off his guard this time. He was used to it now, it was the fourth time the audience had jumped to their feet that night. No wonder this was such a popular show, a lucrative business. When you had magic, real magic, in your show, humans were amazed. Not that he wasn't amazed, too. He knew other magical people existed, but he hadn't really been exposed to them before this. Daichi stood too, the only one in the directors' box to clap, but he would have felt rude not standing. No wonder they wanted him. No wonder they had followed him, finding him in his own home, to bring him with them. No wonder they had said they wouldn't take no for an answer. Daichi was starting to realize how serious they had been.

He was a little bit terrified. 

Without asking permission, he started down the stairs to the exit, ready to cut through the crowd to see Suga. A hand caught his arm, taking him by surprise. He whipped around, and found it to be the man from earlier.   
"Now don't forget your task. Make your piece or whatever, let us know so we can orchestrate you in, but don't forget why you're really here. Money isn't an issue, but you're on him now, so you had better not forget it. You check in with us once a week. He never leaves your sight other than that. Got it?"   
Daichi's head spun. This was very serious. This sounded more like... Like keeping tabs on Suga.   
"Shouldn't I be keeping an eye on other people? To keep him safe?" He said clumsily, unsure if he had heard him wrong.   
"No, idiot. Other people aren't the problem. That fucking freak is. We need him, and if he gets out, it's your head, and then his. Don't fuck up."   
The man shoved Daichi away, and he just barely caught himself before he tumbled down the stairs. He rushed away, taking the stairs recklessly fast, not worried about them seeing anymore. Hopefully they would assume he was rushing off to his job, not running from them.   
The tall, pointy-haired security guard, who he vaguely recognized as Bokuto, pointed him in the direction of the back of the tent. "They're all back there covering themselves in makeup remover, you can follow the smell of it." He yelled over the noise, jovially shoving Daichi's shoulder with his own. He bowed, not trusting his voice over the hubbub, and trotted off that way. 

Pushing through the tent flaps and past yet another tall security guard (were they all giants? he wondered. It wasn't entirely unbelievable.) and through the crowd to the end of the rows of mirrors, he finally reached Suga's. Anxiety was still pulsing through his veins, but when Suga turned around to see who was approaching and practically lit up at the sight of him, it was like a weight lifted from his shoulders. Was it cliche to feel like that? Daichi didn't care. His anxiety abated, and he stopped next to Suga's chair to congratulate him.   
"It was just as beautiful tonight as it was yesterday. You did wonderfully." Daichi said, raising his hand to do... Something. Clap Suga's shoulder? Shake his hand? He let it drop again, suddenly awkward.   
"Well! Thank you, Daichi. Very kind of you." His face broke into a wide grin, his eyes squinting shut.   
"Ah, um, you're welcome." Daichi was uncomfortable again. What was he doing?   
"Did you decide where you'll go? Or are you going to watch us every night until you decide?" Suga asked, turning back to the mirror and taking a baby wipe to his face.   
"Oh. Yeah, we did. Well, they did. I'm... Right before you." Daichi looked around, catching sight of a few familiar faces, avoiding Suga's eye. His stomach was starting to churn again at the thought of what that man had said to him.   
"Brave man!" Suga said, sounding delighted. "Second half is when expectations are higher. They decided for you, did they?"   
Daichi just nodded. His stomach felt like it was twisting.   
"Yeah, they do that. Are you okay? You look kind of sick." Suga said, seeming to notice Daichi's distress.   
"I feel a little bit..." Daichi replied, trailing off, pressing a hand to his chest. His heart was fluttering, and his stomach felt tight.   
Suga leapt up, hands fluttering over Daichi's cheeks, over his shoulders, back to his forehead, down to his wrists. "Sit, sit!" He fretted, shoving Daichi back into his seat. "Backstage is loud and bright and busy, you look overwhelmed. You need to-" Suga was still talking, pressing the back of his hand to Daichi's forehead like he was a mother checking her child for a fever. Daichi could barely hear him anymore. His head was spinning and he could barely breathe.   
Suddenly, the lights that had been overwhelming him vanished, and he was doused in darkness. 

When he came to, he was immediately aware of cool hands on his eyes and soft warmth surrounding him. Very soft. He lifted his head and opened his eyes, and felt the cool hands disappear. He was in... A cocoon? He wasn't sure. It was quieter though, and he didn't feel so much like he was going to die.   
The warm whiteness surrounding him lifted, and he realized suddenly that it had been Suga's wings wrapped around him. Which made the hands... Probably Suga's too.   
He looked up, into the mirror, and found three sets of worried eyes on him.   
"Oh thank goodness!" Suga cried, first to notice he was up. Hinata was standing to his side, a step or so back, but looking like he was there on purpose.   
"He's awake, Suga! Can I come up now?" Hinata said, bouncing on the balls of his feet.   
"Fine, Hinata, but stay calm, please. He's still confused." Suga said, hands still hovering by Daichi's face. As Hinata bounded forward, Daichi spotted Kageyama in the back, leaning against a chair and staring the opposite direction, and Yamaguchi on the other side of him, staring but not approaching.   
"What... What happened?" Daichi asked, uncomfortable under everyone's gaze.   
"Ah. Yamaguchi sensed something was off and sent Kageyama over. That's why everyone is here. You passed out, Daichi. Do you feel well?" Suga replied, not touching him, but looking like his hands were at the ready in case he passed out again.   
"Yes, yes, I'm fine." Daichi said, trying to stand up. Everyone took a step forward, all at once, and Suga's hands flew to his shoulders, holding him down with a very gentle pressure.   
"Don't stand up. We all experienced the rush that comes from coming back here without being ready. There's a lot of magic in here. Just wait it out." Suga explained, and everyone stepped back again.   
Daichi felt fine. It had been an anxiety attack more than anything.   
"I'm fine. Fast healer, remember?" He said, glancing around. The rest of the performers seemed to have left. 

Suga seemed to think for a second, wavering. "Fine, fine. Let him stand, guys." He said, stepping back. Hinata shot him a worried glance that Daichi definitely didn't miss, and took several steps away from him, sticking very close to Kageyama.   
Daichi took that to be his cue to stand, letting Suga's hands drop from his shoulders as he took a step forward, away from the group. He turned around, several pairs of worried eyes on him still, and raised his hands. "See? Fine." He said, looking only at Suga.   
"Okay, okay. Sorry for being worried when you barged in here, guns blazing, and then passed out in my makeup chair." Suga grumbled. "Let's go, I still want to shower. Thank you, Kageyama, Yamaguchi. And you too, Shrimpy." Suga ruffled Hinata's hair, seeing the dejected look on his face. "Go back to your rooms, excitement's over. This one is going to bed whether he likes it or not." 

Daichi didn't protest as Suga led him out with a hand just barely hovering under his elbow. He did feel better, but the anxiety that had caught him earlier was still sitting heavy in his stomach. 

The air outside was clean and fresh and very cool compared to the stifling inside. He hadn't realized how stifling it had been until he stepped out, letting the cool air rush over him. He closed his eyes, briefly, but opened them in time to see Suga reaching for him.   
"I'm fine, it's just chilly out here compared to inside." He reassured Suga, who was hovering like a mother hen around him, ready to grab his elbows if needed.   
"Okay, okay. But it's bedtime nonetheless."   
They walked in silence, Daichi's head full of thoughts, but not fuzzy or spinning anymore. 

Once Daichi was tucked snugly into his sleeping bag (he refused Suga's bed, repeatedly. He didn't have wings and could handle the floor) Suga flopped onto his bed, wings open just enough to frame him in a sort of triangle. He looked down at Daichi, worry written on his face.   
"Do you want to talk about it?" was all he asked, quietly.   
"What did you all do to me?" Daichi asked, in reply.   
"Kageyama made it dark, and I... Well, my touch isn't healing, per say, but it's somewhat soothing. So I put my hands over your eyes, because I hear it helps with headaches. Not that it helps my own," he joked. "That's about it."  
"Were your wings around me? Did I imagine that?" Daichi asked, suddenly doubting his own memory.   
Suga laughed a little, scratching the back of his neck and looking down.   
"No, you didn't imagine it. I'm not sure why I did that, to be honest. Maybe to quiet it down, I guess. I wasn't really thinking." Maybe Daichi was imagining it, but he looked flushed.   
"Sorry about that. I guess it's kinda weird." Suga was looking more embarrassed, but Daichi was too sleepy to really react.   
"S'fine. Thanks for worrying." Daichi mumbled, eyes slipping closed.   
"Any time. Every time. I worry a lot." Suga said, and the smile was audible in his voice.   
"Good night, Suga." Daichi said, almost asleep.   
"Good night, Daichi." The lights went out as he said it, and Daichi fell asleep immediately.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact there is actually a cool store that has all kinda of Asian foods and supplies in Tucson, I went once when I was visiting Favi, but we can pretend they didn't have access to it. Maybe they're in Phoenix. Shrugs.


	3. 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Twenty minutes later, he was descending again, flipping over backwards as many times as he could (four, so far) before opening his wings to land gently in front of Daichi.   
> "What, done already?" He teased, standing from his bench.   
> "Hey! Trapeze is hard! You try it next time, tell me how you like it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Want some sad time? How about some not so sad time? Have both.

Weeks passed uneventfully, and Suga started to get used to Daichi's presence. He stuck close to him, but Suga wasn't bothered. He had hovered around Asahi, his first friend here, when he had first shown up. Daichi's company was pleasant. Suga told him more about the goings-on of the camp, the gossip, the drama between the security guards and the dancers, who liked who, and the rest of their tour plans for the year. Daichi, in turn, told Suga stories of the outside world. Daichi had been a businessman and, before that, an athlete, so he had traveled to a lot of big cities. He told Suga all about the 13 story stationary stores in Tokyo and the temples in rural Japan. Suga listened with huge eyes, rapt, having never seen anything outside of his mother's house in Miyagi and the campgrounds that they were placed in, once he had been taken in by the show. He explained to Daichi that he'd been taken to Tokyo, once, but remembered none of it. It wasn't the right time to get into his long and sordid past, but there was no harm in tidbits.

They danced together every morning, and Daichi watched his afternoon trapeze work with huge eyes every time. He wasn't used to being watched during his practice sessions, but found it wasn't uncomfortable. He was trying harder tricks, and having someone gasp and applaud every time he got one right was... Kinda nice, honestly. He had to change up his routine a little, every time they moved cities, or he'd be bored out of his mind. Plus, it kept the audience on their toes, and the directors off his back. Win-win-win. 

The nice thing about having wings was that when he fell off of the trapeze, he just descended to the ground and brought it down to try again. Which was what he usually did. 

Unless he was feeling dramatic. 

He took the fall from the trapeze into a spiral all the way to the ground, landing face down on the ground and staying there.   
"Trapeze is HAAAAARD!" he whined, not moving. Daichi leapt forward, crouched at his side.   
"Are you alright? Do you need me to get someone? I can carry you to the med tent. I knew we should have put the mats out!" Daichi fretted, not quite touching Suga.   
"Go awayyyyy" Suga groaned into the floor.   
"No, I need to get you up. Here, hold still." Daichi said, bracing his feet.   
"No, seriously, take a step back." Suga nudged Daichi with a wing, and he jumped back like he'd been burned. Suga extended his wings and pushed upwards with his arms as he flapped down, sharply, and almost managed to get his feet under him. He ended up falling back onto his tailbone, like he usually did. "Damn."   
"So you're okay?? You had me all worried for nothing?" Daichi said taking a nervous step forward anyways.   
"Yes, Daichi, I'm just a huge drama queen. Keep up." Suga laughed, standing and brushing the dirt off of his pants. Daichi barked out a laugh. "I've been trying to get enough lift to get all the way on my feet, but these dumb things won't work with me." He gestured to his wings, waggling them a little bit. Daichi laughed, looking a little confused, but didn't mention it.   
"Ok. Back at it." Suga scampered over to the controls to bring the trapeze down, waiting until it got all the way down before hitting the up button. Then he ran, chasséd, and leaped while flapping down to catch onto it before it could get out of his grasp. Normally he would have just jumped for it, but he was feeling dramatic. Daichi clapped a little, smile on his face, and Suga swung his legs up and through to wave and stick his tongue out at him from upside down. He felt a little like a kid on the monkeybars, hanging upside down from his knees like this. The trapeze always made him a little nostalgic for the childhood he hadn't been allowed to have, which was probably why he loved it so much, he figured. 

Twenty minutes later, he was descending again, flipping over backwards as many times as he could (four, so far) before opening his wings to land gently in front of Daichi.   
"What, done already?" He teased, standing from his bench.   
"Hey! Trapeze is hard! You try it next time, tell me how you like it." Suga shoved him a little, mock-hurt, as they started to wander towards the exit. "When are you going to work on your bit? I'd like to see you on a trapeze, too."

Daichi laughed, uncomfortably, and replied with "oh, no no. No. My piece kinda needs.... Another person. Yknow. And I don't really have anyone... So... I don't know."   
"Maybe you could borrow Asahi! Or even join in with Noya, that would be fun." Suga chattered, feeling discomfort roll off of Daichi's body. Something was wrong with his involvement in the show, Suga had been able to tell for a while, but he wasn't quite sure what it was yet. And, as he was prone to do, he wasn't pushing.   
"It'll come together eventually! Some of us had an easier time with it than others, no worries!" Suga said, closing the matter. He could tell Daichi was uncomfortable. "Anyway, I'm starving, and you must be tired from all that strenuous sitting you just did, so I vote food time." It was still early in the afternoon, they didn't have rehearsal for another hour or so, so Suga decided he wanted to do something fun.   
"Do you want to go somewhere to eat?" He asked, while packing sandwiches into baggies. "Trick question, the sandwiches are already bagged, we're going." He turned around, beaming at Daichi, who rolled his eyes, but stood up from his bed, directly across from Suga's own.   
"Where are we going?" He asked in response, reaching for his shoes and throwing a bag to Suga, who barely caught it under an arm without dropping the sandwiches.   
"You'll see!" Suga trilled, excitedly, sliding his own shoes on and bounding down the stairs of the trailer, holding tight to Daichi's sleeve and yanking him along behind him.   
"Jeez, I'm coming! Let go!" Daichi said, laughing and tripping over his feet to keep up with Suga. 

There was a tiny playground just barely on the edge of the part of the campground that they occupied, that Suga had thought about visiting about a hundred times but had never gone through with. Today, he was feeling dramatic. And bold.   
He pretended not to notice the security guard spotting and following them, stopping a distance away and stationing herself against the closest trailer, pulling her phone out. It didn't really matter, one way or another.   
Daichi noticed, though.   
"Why is she following us? There are no guests yet, we're alone out here, what danger could there possibly be?" Daichi hissed, sounding enraged.   
"Oh, Daichi." Suga patted his arm soothingly, then continued to walk towards the playset. "They're not here to keep people out. You must have realized that by now." He spun around, walking backwards to keep his eyes on Daichi's face. "You coming? Those swings aren't going to swing themselves, you know."   
And suddenly Daichi was running, past Suga towards the swings, and Suga was yelping and turning around to sprint after him, using is wings to push himself through the air faster, trying to reach the swings first.   
"You're... Rude." Suga panted, sitting on the sand next to the swings, staring up at Daichi, who was seared on one swing with his feet in the other, effectively keeping Suga from using either of them.   
"But I'm RUDER!" He shouted, flapping to a stand and jumping at Daichi, tackling him to the sand and earning a loud "OW! Suga!!" from him as they hit the ground.   
"What do you mean, ow? You can't get hurt, you drama queen." Suga said, sitting up on Daichi's chest like a throne.   
"I heal fast, doesn't mean I don't feel it!" Daichi said, putting a hand under his head on the sand and staring up at Suga. "Now move, you're heavy! Aren't birds supposed to be light?"   
Suga didn't budge, placing a hand on his chest as if offended to his very core. "I am affronted, Sawamura Daichi! I am half angel, there's no bird to me at all! And I am not heavy, I am just the right weight. I'll have you know that wings are all muscle, even though my bones are light, and you should know better than anyone that muscle is heavy, mister six-pack." Suga poked at Daichi's belly, to which Daichi squawked indignantly and shoved him off. He fell in a heap on the ground next to him, laughing up at the sky. 

"I'm going to swing and you can't stop me!" Suga said, remembering his original goal and jumping up to run back to the swings. He hopped on and pumped his legs, pulling him up into the air almost immediately. He used his wings to push at the highest point as he went backwards, and zoomed forwards as Daichi watched from the floor. As he hit a high point to the front, he let go, pushing forward and letting his wings carry him forward as much as he could before he started to descend. Pathetic, really, how short his flight was before he went down. He ran back to the swings, grinning at an amused Daichi, and did it again and again before Daichi moved.   
"Why do you like that darn thing so much, anyway?" He asked, finally standing up and brushing sand off of his pants. He moved over to the swing next to Suga's and sat down, brushing back and forth in the sand with his toes but not truly swinging like Suga was.   
Suga took a minute to think, flipping off the top of another swing before coming to sit down next to him on the seat, this time not pushing either.   
"I guess it reminds me of the childhood I didn't really have, kinda." He stared down at his hands, aware of Daichi's eyes on him, but not looking up. "See, I used to use these to practice flying, like a baby bird. It was easier than trying to go straight up from the floor, so I would jump off the swings at the park near my parents' house." 

Daichi was quiet for a minute. 

"So I've always liked it! Swings are fun!" He said, trying to break the mood that had come over them suddenly.   
"What do you mean, the childhood you didn't have?" Daichi asked, not solemn but serious, staring at Suga steadily.   
"Well, I mean, I grew up in a little town in rural Japan, somewhere with not a lot of people and not a lot of travel, to try to keep me a secret or whatever. Kinda hard to hide a silver haired boy with wings, you know. But I was found out pretty quick, and then I was taken here. I was maybe 8 or 9 when I first started with them, so I had to grow up pretty fast. The older folks took care of me. Made sure I was eating and all that. But I was left alone a lot, and I couldn't fly anymore, so I was pretty depressed. Y'know, no childhood. Love of swings stuck around, though. Nothing like wind through your feathers." Suga smiled. It wasn't forced, he wasn't sad anymore.   
"So you don't even remember your family?" Daichi asked, looking flabbergasted.  
"Nah, not really. I only really lived with my mom, her parents are in France, and my dad is gone, obviously. I don't miss them, though. This is my family now!" He gestured towards the camp, at all the people bustling around, yelling for makeup or someone to help them stretch or more food. Suga opened and bit into his own sandwich, suddenly remembering it was there, and passed the other one to Daichi. 

They ate in silence, and Suga pretended not to notice that Daichi was stealing more glances at him than usual. 

"They look like they're getting ready to go to rehearsal, so we should probably go," Suga said, standing up and shaking out his wings, "as much as I would rather sit on this swing until I die."   
Daichi laughed, and stood up too, following Suga as he wandered back towards the main campsite. The security guard followed them, too, pushing off the wall with a huff and meandering after them, still texting furiously.   
"Ah, let her be, Daichi. She's doing her job, can't blame anyone for that." Suga said, placing a hand on his arm as they walked.   
Daichi didn't seem to feel any better, but he didn't say anything, and he stopped glancing back at her as they walked.   
Suga didn't take his hand off of Daichi's arm, either. 

The show was uneventful, as per usual. Standing ovations, flowers, entire audiences moved to tears, et cetera, et cetera. Suga didn't feel fulfilled, not really. It wasn't enough. He was bored. 

He wanted more. 

The thought hit him all at once, as the lights slammed off at the end of the show, and he was almost staggered by how sudden it was. He hadn't been expecting it, he didn't know how to deal with it.   
This place had always been enough for him. He'd grown up here, surrounded by these people, doing this exact thing. He loved dancing. He loved trapeze. He loved his family. He got to travel the world, always on tour, no home to call his own other than his trailer. But this wasn't enough. 

If this wasn't enough, what was? 

He ran with the rest of the group back to the backstage area, in somewhat of a trance. It was definitely autopilot at this point, like everything else here.   
Until he ran face-first into someone's chest and looked up into Daichi's face, and things fell into place. 

Daichi had come into his life, shaken everything up with his stories of Tokyo and pigeons that didn't bother to fly away with you came up to them and his loud laugh when Suga pretended to fall off of the trapeze and his quiet companionship during ballet and aerial practice and his presence, his presence, his presence. 

This wasn't enough, but Daichi was. He was all Suga had ever needed, and here he was. 

Suga stared into Daichi's face as it all hit him, and Daichi stared down at him, arms around his waist to stop him from reeling backwards onto the floor, and waited. 

"It's you!" Suga said, in awe.  
"Of course it's me. Who else would it be?" Daichi replied, smiling, a little confused.   
"You know? I was just thinking the same thing." Suga said, and pushed up onto his toes to kiss him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Unless he was feeling dramatic" is me every day, truly


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Suga?" He asked, and Suga looked at him from the top of the slide.   
> "Why don't you fly away?"   
> Suga laughed, looking away from Daichi, and flared his wings out to the sides of the slide, lifting them all the way out.   
> "I'll show you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sad time round 2 but it's still gay don't worry

Suga had looked deep in thought, and maybe hadn't been paying attention, and maybe he didn't move fast enough but suddenly Suga was slamming into his chest and Daichi was grabbing him around his middle to stop him from falling backwards from the rebound. And then Suga was looking up into his face and his eyes were so full of emotion, and lost in thought, as if he was having a revelation. And then he was saying "it's you!" as if there was anyone else it would be, and Daichi was confused, and of course it was him, and then Suga was kissing him and nothing else mattered in the entire world.

It had all happened very fast.

But now it was happening slow, so slow, like time had stopped and they were standing there, just the two of them suspended in the ether, and stars were moving around them at the speed of light but they were holding perfectly, perfectly still.

Which of course they weren't. It was loud and bright and there were people running to and fro, shouting and laughing, and Suga was moving his hands from Daichi's cheeks to his hair, and someone was whistling from behind them, but that wasn't important. What was important was that Suga had his hands in Daichi's hair and his lips were soft on Daichi's and his body was warm under Daichi's hands and there they were.

Suga broke the kiss and exhaled, opening and staring up at Daichi with angel eyes, bright hazel shining against pale skin and pink cheeks.  
"It's you." He repeated, a statement of fact that Daichi was pretty sure he would never disagree with in his life.  
"Yeah, it's me." Daichi breathed, and he smiled down at Suga like he had never seen him before.  
Which he had, of course he had, but never like this.

"Oh." Suga said, blinking and looking around as if he was just realizing where they were. "You have... Glitter. Sorry." He looked a little bit bashful, but Daichi wasn't bothered. "Frankly, Suga, I couldn't care less." Daichi raised a hand and brushed along his cheekbone, where most of the glitter was. He didn't even want to pretend he didn't see the way Suga's eyelashes fluttered from the touch, it was too precious.

Oh, no.

Daichi was in deep. And he barely knew Suga.

"Um... I'm gonna... Wash this off." Suga stuttered, bashful for once, and Daichi withdrew his hands at what felt like the speed of sound.  
"Sorry, sorry. Yeah. Makeup remover. Right," Daichi stepped back, letting Suga pass him to his table and sit down. He stood there, watching Suga pull out cotton pads and makeup remover, until Suga looked over at him and called "you know you don't have to stand over there, right?" teasingly.  
Daichi took a step over, suddenly awkward, and then remembered. He'd been standing over Suga, watching him take his makeup off, for over a month now. Maybe longer. Time passed oddly here, it seemed.  
He walked the rest of the way, standing next to Suga in silence, like he usually did. Sometimes Suga chattered on and on about the show, what he felt he could have done better, what he thought he would add to next time, whatever was on his mind. Sometimes he was quiet. Today was a quiet day. He seemed to be thinking. Daichi left him to it.

"You're right, you know."  
Daichi almost jumped out of his skin as a voice came in from next to him. He hadn't noticed Yamaguchi walking up behind him.  
"About time. It does pass oddly here. I tried to keep track of the number of shows we had, at first. I kept tallies. But they changed, on their own, I think, and seasons don't change when they should. I have no idea how long you've been here. But Tsukki might. The directors manipulate time, but he can feel it."  
It was the most Daichi had heard Yamaguchi say in a row, not including when he gushed about Tsukishima. He took a step towards Yamaguchi and away from Suga, leaning in.  
"Is that why you're here? They found you too?" Daichi asked, quietly, so Suga wouldn't hear.  
"Nah, we found them. Crew and security are just people, for the most part. We put in applications like everyone else, we just might have had an... Advantage getting the job." Yamaguchi laughed quietly.  
"Something's going on with you, isn't it? You like him, but something's scaring you."  
Daichi hadn't thought about it. But he was right.

He just nodded.

Yamaguchi nodded in return. "I could tell. You'll work it out, though."  
"Thanks." Daichi didn't know why, but he felt a little better just hearing Yamaguchi say it.  
When he looked back at Suga, he was staring at them in the mirror. When Daichi caught his eye, he blushed and looked away, but Daichi took a step back towards him, and Yamaguchi wandered off.

"What were you talking about?" Suga asked, as they walked back to their trailer.  
"Time," Daichi replied, not really sure how to elaborate.  
"Ah, so you noticed." Suga said, nodding and brushing the back of Daichi's hand with the back of his own. Daichi nodded, catching Suga's pinky with his.  
"Yeah... It's weird at first, but you get used to it, I guess. Not really sure what they gain from it but what can you do, right? I can keep track based on molts, but that's not a super accurate thing."

"Molts?" Daichi asked, pushing the trailer door open for Suga, then following him in.  
"Yeah, you know, when all of a bird's feathers come out so they can grow new ones? I'm not a bird, obviously, but they kinda act the same. Once a year I lose a bunch of feathers all at once so new ones can grow in. It's a huge hassle, to be honest. I wake up surrounded by feathers. I could probably use them to get out of a labyrinth. Like breadcrumbs." Suga laughed, grabbing his towel and heading to the door again. "But that won't happen for a little while, I don't think. We'll probably be in LA by the time it comes. It's usually in summer, and I think Tsukishima-kun said it's coming soon."  
Daichi nodded. He wasn't sure why that surprised him, of course wings needed new feathers, but he never imagined it would all be at once.  
"But, Suga." Daichi said, confused. Suga stopped, door half open, and turned around. "Yeah?"  
"If you don't have any feathers, won't you not be able to fly?"  
Suga laughed, a little bit bitterly. "Oh Daichi, I can't fly with these anyways, what's another couple of feathers when these ones are useless as is?"  
He stepped out the door and it slammed behind him. Daichi could hear his footsteps crunching on the dirt as he walked to the bathroom for a shower.

Which left him alone with his thoughts.

What did he mean, his feathers were useless? Daichi watched him fly all the time. He had wings. He flew. It didn't make sense.  
But maybe it did?  
He thought back. Suga never went up. Just to get to his feet. That was true. He took the trapeze, or the ladder, and jumped. Daichi thought it was because he was too weak, he had implied that a lot. When he used them to get up, usually. So he just used them to glide down.  
Maybe he couldn't go up? There had to be a reason. Bu what could it possibly be? He knew he was missing something, and it was driving him nuts.

When Suga came back a few minutes later, Daichi was still standing in the same position he had left him in.  
"Have you even moved?" Suga laughed, kicking off his sandals and stepping in to the room, dropping his towel on the floor as he walked past his bed to the bathroom.  
Daichi jumped.  
"Yeah, I was just... Thinking... I got distracted." Daichi hesitated, considering asking, but decided to wait. One thing at a time.

He sat down on his bed, staring towards the bathroom, and asked "hey Suga?"  
"Yeah?" Suga's head popped out from behind the door, hair still a mess.  
"Uhm... About earlier... I, well, how do I say this. Um." Daichi could feel his cheeks burning.  
"Oh! Yeah! I'm sorry about that, I should have... Asked, or something, before I..." Suga gestured, blood staining his cheeks pink.  
"No, no, I liked- um, it was fine. I just-"  
"Want to know where we stand?" Suga finished, taking a step out of the bathroom to lean against the door frame, clad only in his boxers. If that wasn't distracting, Daichi didn't know what was.  
"Uh... Yeah." Daichi replied, pretty sure he would agree to jumping off a cliff if post-shower shirtless Suga asked him to.  
"Well, I..." Suga laughed, visibly relaxing as he breathed out. "Yeah, okay. Let's do this now. Sooner than later. Daichi, your presence in my life has been nothing but positive, and there's no one I would rather spend my time with, so I would be very happy if you would agree to be my boyfriend. If that's not what you want, though, I will be very happy as your friend as well because I'm a mature adult. Sometimes." Suga was smiling now, playful, hopeful.  
"Oh. I- yeah, I- um, I'd like that." Daichi wanted to punch himself. Where did eloquent Daichi go when he needed him most?  
Suga chucked a little bit, taking a step closer to Daichi.  
"You'd like... What." He said, swinging his hips a little with every step.  
Daichi's throat was very dry all of a sudden. He licked his lips, and glanced at Suga's.  
"Well for one, I'd like to kiss you again." He managed to say, before Suga was on him, kneeling over him and pressing his lips to Daichi's, stronger this time than the last.

Finally, Daichi thought, before his brain almost shut off completely.

Here, in the quiet of their room, Daichi could run his hands over the smooth muscles in Suga's back, feeling where they moved when Suga moved his wings to better accommodate them and the bed under his knees. And Suga could cup Daichi's face and sigh, opening his mouth a little to let Daichi tease his tongue and suck his bottom lip into his mouth. Daichi had had girlfriends in Tokyo, but this was different. Suga fit into the gaps in his body just like he had fit himself into the holes in Daichi's defenses. And it felt good, so good, to have Suga's body under his hands.  
Feeling bold, Daichi ran his hands up to Suga's shoulder blades and found the connection where the wings began, starting to feel his way out, plushy feathers under his fingers. Suga gasped and drew back, feathers puffing up under Daichi's hands.  
"Oh, sorry, sorry, I didn't mean to-" Daichi was panicking. He had done something wrong, too much too soon, and he was going to scare Suga away.  
"No, no, it's... Nobody really touches them. It felt kinda weird." Suga replied, wings held tight to his body now. He was blushing very red, presumably due to discomfort.  
"Sorry, I should have asked." Daichi withdrew his hands, resting them on Suga's hips, and waited.  
"Nah, it's fine. You can touch them if you want." He still wasn't making eye contact with Daichi, and the blush on his cheeks was crawling down his neck and onto his chest. "But I should probably get ready for bed."  
Suga hopped off, clearly trying to play off his blush by leaning forward and kissing Daichi lightly. "We'll get back to that later."  
And then it was Daichi's turn to blush. 

They started hanging out at the playground a lot. The security guards followed them, standing close at first and farther and farther as time went on. They were almost alone, one night, after Suga had showered and decided that he was too antsy to sleep, thank you very much.   
They kissed at the top of the slide, Suga jumped off the swings a lot, and Daichi did some pull-ups on the monkeybars while Suga teased him for being a show-off. 

When Daichi finally got the nerve up to ask, the moon was high and the air was chilly. 

"Suga?" He asked, and Suga looked at him from the top of the slide.   
"Why don't you fly away?"   
Suga laughed, looking away from Daichi, and flared his wings out to the sides of the slide, lifting them all the way out.   
"I'll show you."   
And so he climbed onto the top of the top of the play place, outstretched his wings entirely, and started to flap them as he bent his knees and threw himself up and forward, away from the play place.   
And he flapped and flapped, but he still descended. 

He landed, stumbling forward a little from the hard landing, and turned back to Daichi, who felt like he was glued to the swing. Suga walked back into the sand, sitting down facing Daichi on the bottom of the slide. 

"I can't fly because they don't want me to."

"I fought it, at first. The cuts were harsher, and they twisted my feathers when they pulled them to steady me. I was only a kid. I was weak. There was no way I would win." He was staring out, his tone light but hollow. "How could I have fought them? They were grown-ass men!" He chucked there, and his eyes squinted, but it wasn't quite the same.   
"Nowadays they have things. Tranquilizers. I almost made it out once, almost. Waited until one of the techs had his back turned, hit the other with my wing, almost got out before they got me with it. Now it's on their little tray when they come in, so I can see it. It's definitely a don't-try-anything-Sugawara-Koushi. So I let them, because I really haven't got a choice in it." 

Daichi stared. He didn't really quite know what to say. But Suga wasn't talking and someone had to so he started, softly, "so they just..."   
"Yeah, they just cut them back. Not enough that it looks bad, and they make sure to round off the ends, see? I'm sure you've noticed. Everyone stares." He laughed again, but this time it was more real. "Don't look so chagrined, Daichi! I don't really mind. There are worse things to be stared at about."   
Daichi blushed anyways. So he had noticed him looking. Best let him believe it was because of the wings, he thought.   
Who falls in love with an angel, anyway? 

"Well anyway, yeah. They clip them. And make them look nice. But they're pretty useless with no flight feathers. I'm like a chicken, I guess, or maybe more like a parrot. I think that's where they got the idea, anyway. No flight feathers, no lift. I can't go up. You've seen me jump down, that's fine. I flutter down or whatever. I can steer a little, but mostly it's just controlled falling. No going up for me, so flying isn't really what I'd... call it, I guess."   
And Daichi knew he was staring but Suga was staring at his hands now, wings still slightly open to demonstrate the rounded edges of his flight feathers, and yeah, now that he mentioned it Daichi could see how they were blunt, shorter than wings ought to be.   
"That's about it, to be honest. That's my whole story." 

And Suga was staring out again, not quite towards the moon, but towards the light, and his face was bathed in it. Daichi could tell he was an angel. Anyone would be able to. But in light like this, it was a thousand times more obvious, the way his silver hair shone and his pale eyelashes left spiderweb shadows on his face. Daichi was in awe, like he was every night. Every time he saw him jump from that platform, gliding and fluttering, makeup and costume radiant under the lights... but this was different. Softer, and more genuine. This was Suga. Real and open in front of him, lit from the inside as much as he was from the window. Maybe more. It wasn't clear.   
All that was clear to Daichi in that moment was that he was going to get them out. Both of them, alive, into freedom. 

And that he was in love with Suga.   
But that part he had known all along, hadn't he?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The "I can't fly because they don't want me to" speech is actually the first thing I wrote, fun fact. This entire fic is inspired by a conure we have at my work, who we actually re-clipped the wings of today. (An odd coincidence)  
> Hope u like this Gay Content bye


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was a tough one, keeping his wings from getting tangled up with the fine material, but he was practiced, and disciplined, and he knew his routine. He let the music wash over him and moved, letting his muscle memory carry him through the dance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dance boy experiences 17 emotions in the span of like 5 minutes, more at 8. (It gets saucy towards the end but not Super saucy. In any case it's not important to the plot so skip away kiddos)

The directors only came to the lunch meetings when they had to, so Suga was only a little surprised when they showed up at his door instead.   
Daichi was still asleep, so he stepped outside and closed the door behind him, leaning against it to face them.   
"Hello, gentlemen. Can I help you?" He said, smiling blandly at them.   
"Just here to see how your routine is going. We're thinking of moving soon, in the next month or so, so we're checking in on everyone."   
"Routine is fine, we won't need to change the music at all but my tricks will change a little, I'm thinking next time we move I'll add some aerial silks but they're not ready yet. Do you need to see it?"   
"As long as it's handled, we'll see it at rehearsal once we make it to LA."   
"Trapeze is handled, I worked the new pattern out with Kuroo already. He'll get Kenma on lighting as soon as it's more set in stone. How long do I have?"   
"A month, give or take."

"Alright. Anything else?" Suga was polite, he always was, but he was definitely done with this conversation.   
"Is Daichi up?" The man at the front peered through the small window, and Suga raised an eyebrow.   
"It's six in the morning."   
"You're awake." The man bit back, displeased at the sass. Suga did love to sass.   
"I have silks to practice before anyone wakes up. Do you want me to send him to you at a more reasonable hour, or will you be making another round?"   
"We'll come by later, Asariel. Practice hard." He said, and the rest of the group started to shuffle off. Did they draw straws for who would have to talk that day? Suga wasn't sure he had ever spoken to the same man twice.  
"Always do." He opened his door, stepping in and closing it behind him, leaning his head against it and closing his eyes. 

"Something up?" Daichi asked, mumbling over the sleep in his voice.   
"Nothing to worry about. Go back to sleep." Suga kissed Daichi lightly on the head, then grabbed his bag. "I'll be right back."   
Daichi hummed, eyes already closed. Suga smiled. He'd thought Daichi would be more of a morning person, but it was a fight to get him out of bed in the morning. He managed it, most mornings, to get him to run. But when he was sneaking out to practice, he let him sleep, under the guise of "because I don't want you to suffer EVERY day, Daichi, just enough days that you hate me." 

The girls were already there.   
"Yachi, Shimizu, thank you. Again." Suga bowed, slipping off his shoes and walking toward them, steps light despite the hour. He shook his wings out, starting to stretch out and warm up his ankles. They stretched in silence, the air chilly. 

"Alright! Well, do you want to start?" Yachi had hopped up first, and Shimizu followed.   
"Can I practice a few more things, and then we'll run it all the way through?" Suga asked, stepping up to the silks and grabbing them in his hands, wrapping one around his arm.   
Yachi pranced over, watching carefully as Suga took a few steps and then jumped, contracting his abs and pulling himself up and over. The silks were fun, but as if they weren't hard enough without wings, he was one hundred percent in his own way, trying to flip through the tiny space left by the silks with an eight and a half foot wingspan to boot. Shimizu and Yachi were having a time finding tricks he could do without risking losing a feather or ten. 

Half an hour later, he was finally ready for music.   
"You sure?" Yachi asked, worrying as usual. Shimizu didn't say anything, but she glanced between Yachi and Suga as if to ask the same thing.   
"Yeah, no time but the present. If I need to, I can just stop. And I only have half an hour before Hinata needs the room, so I gotta just take the jump." He winked at the joke, and stepped back towards the silks, pointing his left foot behind him in an arabesque on the floor.   
The music started, and he spun around, wrapping his wrist in the material. He took a few steps and then jumped, letting the momentum and the silks pull him around and around. The familiar burn in his muscles grounded him, and he pulled and flipped as he lifted himself up. It was a tough one, keeping his wings from getting tangled up with the fine material, but he was practiced, and disciplined, and he knew his routine. He let the music wash over him and moved, letting his muscle memory carry him through the dance. 

The only thing that was different about this was his wings couldn't help him, so they stayed put. He wasn't using them at all. Sometimes they opened to get out of the way, but they didn't help him dance.   
Suga was very used to needing them. They defined him. He was that boy with wings. The angel.   
But here, his talent shone through. He learned these tricks on his own, he thought. This was his own hard work. No cheat, no shortcut, no extra lift. Just him, his muscle memory, and the silk against his fingers. 

Something about it was incredibly refreshing. 

This was just him. 

When the song ended and he broke his final pose, he was breathing heavily. Yachi had her hands clapped other her mouth, and Shimizu was smiling gently at him.   
"Well, I didn't fall, and I seem to be intact, so it must not have gone THAT badly," Suga joked, slightly uncomfortable in the silence the song left when it ended. 

"Oh, Suga, it was BEAUTIFUL!!" Yachi said, finally taking her hands away from her mouth to clap rapidly. "You shine up there, and you're not even wearing makeup!"   
Suga blushed. Yachi complimented him a lot, but this was something he was proud of, and if was nice to hear something so positive coming from someone as good as she was.   
"Thank you. That means a lot, coming from you. You're amazing. A great teacher, too."   
Shimizu smiled at the bright red blush splashing itself across Yachi's face, and put a gentle hand on her knee. Yachi's eyes snapped up to Shimizu's, looking embarrassed but pleased.   
Suga kind of felt like he was intruding on something, so he stepped over to the stereo himself. He pressed back and play, the same dark pop song pouring through the speakers as he jogged to his spot on the floor. 

This piece was more... Sensual, than his usual. Ballet was fun, and he loved his song, as many times as he had heard it, but it was definitely a nice change of pace to body roll and let his hips move (which, if he was honest, never really happened in ballet.)  
Suspended in the air in a perfect split, nothing but fabric between him and the floor, he felt free. It wasn't flying, nothing compared to that, but it was close. The closest he'd been in ages. 

There were parts where he hung, suspended, moving slowly from pose to pose, and then there were times where he tucked and rolled, somersaulting out of the silks wrapped around and around his legs, until he almost hit the ground. When the music slowed to end, he descended from on high, curling in on himself to finish again, almost in the fetal position on the ground. He hadn't noticed Hinata walk in. 

"Suga! Why are you stealing my songs??" Hinata called, toeing off his shoes and bounding in to the room.   
"Hinata! What do you mean?" Suga replied, uncurling and extending his legs in front of him into a luxurious forward fold. He peeked up at Hinata, face rested on his knees.   
"I thought we agreed I got fire songs and you got angel songs!" Hinata laughed, huge grin on his face.   
"Can angels not be on fire too??" Suga replied, hand over his heart, mock-hurt. "Hinata, I'm hurt! Offended! You wound me!"   
"If you want to be on fire, I can help you with that!” Hinata said, taking a running start into an aerial cartwheel, trails of fire left in the air behind his feet. Suga hopped up with a harsh flap, pushing the fire back at Hinata, who laughed loudly. 

"Keep that away from the silks, you goof! They're too pretty for you to singe them!" Suga chided, laughing as well. He and Hinata had always had a good relationship, being the most obviously visibly "different" than the average human. Hinata had been afraid of him at the beginning when he had first come, everyone was, but had quickly realized that Suga was both harmless and probably the sweetest person in the entire universe. They had been friends ever since.   
"Are you done yet? I wanna practice some new stuff!" Hinata hopped up and down on the balls of his feet, impatient as always.   
"Yeah, yeah, just let me put these away." Suga took the ends of the silks and tied them into a loose knot, pulling them off of the floor and then jumping with a good downstroke to get his hands pretty high up. He looped another knot, shoving the lower through the upper to hold the whole thing off the floor about six feet, then let go, letting himself glide down into a single tuck before sticking the landing right in front of Hinata. 

"No fair." Hinata said, pouting. Suga ruffled his hair, feeling his fingers warm from the touch alone.   
"Ah, no pouting. Where's Kageyama?"   
"He wouldn't get up, so I'm here all by myself today." Suga hadn't noticed that Kiyoko and Yachi had left. "Daichi's not here either, you can't make fun of me."   
"Yeah, he's asleep too." Suga laughed, throwing his head back. "Lazy boyfriends are the worst."   
Hinata spluttered out a "Kageyama's not- we're just- what do you mean?" as Suga skipped away from him, collecting his bag and shoes.   
"Alright, alright! Sorry!" Suga sang, amused as always. "Let me know when he gets it together, though!" and pranced out. 

Speaking of boyfriends, Suga thought while heading back to their trailer, he should probably warn Daichi that the directors were around and would probably want a status on his show, which he... Hadn't started, as far as Suga knew. 

He opened the door as quietly as he could (it was still seven, after all) and carefully climbed into bed with Daichi, wings hanging off the side of the bed. This was the best way to wake him up, he decided. They slept in their own beds, for the most part, but snuggling up under the covers while Daichi woke up was definitely a high point in Suga's day, every day. That was the nice part about being an early riser.   
He burrowed his face into Daichi's neck, cold nose warming against Daichi's hot skin. He was very warm, Suga had noticed. Not as warm as Hinata, of course, but certainly warmer than your average person. It was great for Suga, who was always cold, but Daichi complained about cold toes in his bed on an almost daily basis. There was no strength behind it, though, so Suga snuggled his cold fingers against Daichi's warm back all the same. 

"Mm, Suga?" Daichi said into Suga's hair, arms contracting around him almost unconsciously.   
"Good morning, again." Suga murmured into Daichi's collarbone, kissing it directly after.   
He didn't miss the shiver that Daichi was obviously still too asleep to suppress.   
He also definitely didn't miss the way Daichi's hands snuck up his back, fingers pressing hot into his skin, until they were between his wings.   
He didn't realize he had been holding his breath until Daichi stroked outward, over the place where his wings met his body and onto the base of them, fingers running through his feathers, and he let it out like he'd been punched in the stomach. 

He hadn't expected it to feel like that. 

He pulled his head back to look at Daichi, who slowly blinked his eyes open, finding Suga's face inches from his. He kissed Suga, who kissed him back, still warm from the hands embedded in his feathers. He gasped, though, when Daichi tightened his fingers and pressed harder against his wings. Daichi opened his eyes again, still sleepy, but with more purpose this time. Suga wasn't sure what the protocol was here, but he shifted to swing a leg over Daichi's body, settling his hips down onto Daichi's and leaning forward to kiss him again, hands braced on the pillow on either side of his head. 

Daichi seemed to have figured it out by now. He brought his hands up to Suga's wings, the highest arc at the top, and dragged them down, fingers running through the feathers to the bottom. Suga's whole body absolutely shuddered. He couldn't find it in himself to even be embarrassed by it. He lowered himself to his elbows by grabbing Daichi's hair and leaned down closer to his chest to kiss him harder, practically laying on him, but supporting himself a little.   
"Suga." Daichi mumbled, against his lips. "You can put your weight on me, I won't break."   
Suga would have argued, but Daichi was massaging little circles into the space right before his feathers stopped and his skin began, and he honestly wasn't forming any coherent thoughts, let alone full sentences. He pressed their lips together again, almost desperate, and rolled his hips a little.   
It was Daichi's turn to gasp.   
So when Daichi took hold of the Velcro parts of Suga's shirt and pulled, Suga didn't protest, sitting up to pull the shirt off and look down at Daichi. 

His eyes were huge, wandering over Suga's bare chest, then flickering back up to his face. Suga was a little embarrassed, watching Daichi look at him, but the feeling was overwhelmed by what he could only describe as simple adoration. Daichi looked so cute, so soft, and Suga realized that Daichi wasn't really the only one staring.   
"You're... Radiant." Daichi was whispering, hands on Suga's hips. Suga blushed and looked away. He was used to compliments, but this felt different somehow. One of Daichi's fingers turned Suga's face back to face his. Suga could feel himself blushing deeper, but didn't break the eye contact this time.   
Until Daichi slid a hand into his hair, pulling his head down to kiss again. 

This was the most serious they had gotten, and Suga was starting to feel a little bit nervous about it. Daichi seemed to sense his hesitation and didn't push. They kissed, softly, and Suga pulled back a little to nuzzle his nose on Daichi's. They he lay closer, collapsing down onto Daichi's strong chest, letting Daichi continue massaging gently at the junction of his wings and his back.   
"I could kiss you all day," Suga mumbled into Daichi's neck in between gentle bites, "but we have ballet to get to, and-" he stiffened, eyes snapping open, and he sat up so fast his head spun. "Holy shit, the directors."   
Daichi woke up at that one. "What? The what?"   
"The directors came by earlier, they're making rounds. They probably want to talk to you. Shit, shit. I forgot. Oh my god." Suga looked down, face suddenly burning.   
"Oh no, oh no oh no oh no. Dai, I'm sorry. Jesus." He put a hand to Daichi's neck, trying to cover the very obvious line of red marks that led from behind his ear to his collarbone.   
Daichi blinked up at him. "Should you be saying stuff like that?"   
"What do you mean? Shit, god damn it, Daichi." Suga felt his face burning. Everyone would see him like that! He kept his hand over the line of marks, squeezing his eyes shut.  
"Aren't you like, an angel or whatever? What happened to saying the lord's name in vain?"  
"What? No, nobody cares about that anymore. Plus I'm only half angel, I don't think they even know I exist. Are you not worried about this at all??" Suga kept his eyes shut, hand still on Daichi's neck. This was the most embarrassing thing in the world. 

Daichi was laughing. 

Why was Daichi laughing?? 

"Worried about what, Suga?" Daichi asked through his laughter.   
"The-oh." Suga pulled his hand away from Daichi's neck to gesture at the red marks, but... they were gone. "Right. Healing. I... Forgot."   
"People usually do. Especially when they're, how do you say, otherwise occupied." Daichi was smirking up at him.   
"Don't be rude!" Suga was laughing now too, face still a little warm.   
"I'm not being rude!" Daichi pulled Suga down, kissed him again, and then pushed himself up onto his elbows. "Anyway, you were saying about the directors, before you panicked?"

"Yes! Yes. Directors. They came by, and asked about my piece, so they're probably coming to see you soon, they're going to want to know what you have, and-" Daichi grabbed Suga's hands from where they were gesticulating wildly.   
"Suga. Honey. We already talked, they're fine with waiting another round for me to be able to dance. You see me dance every day, I would truly embarrass myself. Come here. It's fine." Daichi pulled Suga's hands down, and he collapsed against his chest again.   
"That was a goddamn roller coaster, Dai. Holy shit." Suga mumbled.   
"Yeah I guess it was. You've had a morning already, huh?" Daichi chuckled, and Suga felt the noise rumble through his chest and right into Suga's own heart.   
"And it's only seven thirty in the morning." Suga said, feeling emotions swell in his chest.   
"Hey Daichi?"   
"Yeah?" Daichi replied, looking down at the top of his head.   
"I... You're really great, you know that?" Suga said, chickening out last moment. It wasn't the right time. They'd just made out for fifteen minutes, and then Suga had freaked out, and now they were late for their ballet slot... Daichi was right, it HAD been a morning, and it was only just starting.   
"You're pretty wonderful yourself, Koushi." Daichi replied, kissing Suga on the head. "Now did you just say seven thirty? Because if I recall correctly we only have until nine to dance in there so we... Might want to get up."   
"Mmmm... No thanks...." Suga didn't want to move. He wasn't sure if he would ever move again. He was very comfortable here.   
Until suddenly Daichi was tickling him, and he was squealing and trying to get away, and them almost falling off the bed, and Daichi was catching him with very strong arms around his waist, and then they were both getting up and Daichi was making fun of him and he was smacking him with his bag before fake-storming out, still shirtless, playfully slamming the door behind him. 

It all happened very fast, like it was all in one breath, and then they were in the dance room and that was that. 

"Alright, fine, you win. Let's dance." Daichi said, as if he hadn't been the one to get them out of bed to come dance in the first place. He threw a shirt at Suga, who didn't catch it, letting it fall to the floor dramatically. 

"Fine, I GUESS," Suga said, rolling his eyes hugely for comedic effect, "we could dance a LITTLE bit, but I still don't like you anymore."   
Daichi laughed, poking Suga in the ribs, earning another squeak from him.   
"That's fair, and I deserve it. Come on. Put your damn shirt on, too, you big ho."   
Suga let him pull him onto the dance floor and kissed him one more time before stepping up to the barre.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm more of a ballet guy myself but I would LOVE to do silks. @my county do better.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "No! No, no! Let's dance!!! Please!!!" Suga was hopping up and down on the balls of his feet, leaning towards Daichi over the barre. Daichi leaned forward, timing it perfectly, and placed a swift kiss on Suga's cheek. "Fine, we'll dance, but we need to finish this first or you'll hurt yourself."   
> Suga pouted, but looked a little pleased under the stuck-out lip. "Fine. I've taught you too well, and now it's biting me in the ass. Leg up, let's stretch."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boys dance! Thank goodness. (There's some plot too I swear)

While they danced, Daichi thought about that morning.

Suga opening the door had woken him up, and he hadn't meant to listen in, but he couldn't really not hear them talking from directly through the wall. 

So they were going to move. The whole caravan was going to up and move to LA, Daichi with them. 

And Suga was going to molt, too.   
Suga only couldn't fly because of his feathers, but if he grew new ones in and they weren't cut, he would have his freedom.   
So if Daichi wanted to get them out, LA would be both the time and the place. 

Suga had come back in, looking worse for wear. Daichi had squinted at him through almost closed eyes, pretending to be asleep, or mostly asleep, as if his mind wasn't going a mile a minute. 

He left and Daichi let his eyes open, rolling to face the ceiling. So far it seemed like Suga hadn't noticed his disappearances once a week during the show, so he was in the clear on that end. He didn't need to know that Daichi was reporting back to the directors about him. 

Not that he was really telling the truth, but he might not like it anyway. Definitely wouldn't like it. Whatever. 

Daichi had thought hard about what they would do. It would have to be pretty far into the molt, so it would be close to when the new feathers would come in. He had googled how molts work, they kinda really just... Fell out, and then grew back in. But Suga needed them to come in and stay intact. That was why they didn't pluck the feathers, it turned out. Because then Suga would grow new ones and they would have to snip them all over again.

They would have to get away from the security guards and hide out until the new feathers came in. Daichi had been to LA before, once, but he wasn't sure where exactly in LA they would be, and his English wasn't perfect, so he was a little worried about being able to find somewhere to go. His friend Ikejiri still lived there, but he had lost track of his information... He would have to search for it to get in contact with him. They didn't have very much money, the directors barely paid them anything under the excuse of housing and food costs, but they really didn't have anything to spend it on, so it was just there. They probably had enough to get them to Japan, maybe, possibly, but from there it was fuzzy. Where would they go? Where would they live?   
They'd figure it out as they went, Daichi guessed. 

Then he had rolled back over when he heard Suga enter again, trying to quiet down his brain and enjoy their morning routine. 

"Daichi?" Suga's voice interrupted his thoughts. Maybe it was for the best, he didn't need to be rehashing the same plans over and over. He jumped a little, startled.   
"Yeah?" He asked, a little guilty.   
"You seem distracted. Is everything... Okay?" Suga had stopped his tendus and was staring at Daichi, looking concerned.   
"Yeah! Yes. Sorry, I was thinking about... The show. And what I'm gonna do." Daichi lied, concerned about speaking frankly about it, out in the public, with the directors around.   
"Oh!" Suga brightened up, immediately. Daichi felt his heart sink a little bit. Suga was so trusting, so deeply, inherently good. He never wanted to lie to him, but this was for his own good.   
The less Suga knew about it, the better. 

"Well, if you wanna start choreographing some dance stuff, I can help! Well, kinda. It depends on if it's ballet or something else. I'm not super great at other kinds of dance stuff. I suppose you don't really have to do dance stuff, either. If you want to do something more like... Like martial arts or something.... I don't really know how you're going to show off your talent. What was the plan there? I guess you don't really have to show it off either. You could just do something cool." Suga rambled on, clearly excited about the concept of making a new show.   
"Can I dance with you?" Daichi blurted out, before he could stop himself. 

"What?" Suga said, hands stopping mid-gesture. 

"Never mind, it was stupid. I'll figure something out. I guess someone could throw knives at me or something like that-"   
"You want to dance with me?" Suga cut him off, eyes huge.   
"I... I don't know, it might be fun... But I'm a terrible dancer, you deserve a better partner." Daichi hedged.   
"No! No, no! Let's dance!!! Please!!!" Suga was hopping up and down on the balls of his feet, leaning towards Daichi over the barre. Daichi leaned forward, timing it perfectly, and placed a swift kiss on Suga's cheek. "Fine, we'll dance, but we need to finish this first or you'll hurt yourself."   
Suga pouted, but looked a little pleased under the stuck-out lip. "Fine. I've taught you too well, and now it's biting me in the ass. Leg up, let's stretch." 

Daichi swung his leg up and thought about that first day, months ago, when Suga had taught him how to modify things to be able to do them properly. Now he was flexible enough to follow Suga on the barre, and even though he wasn't as flexible as Suga was, he was getting there. Slowly but surely. 

Suga finally pronounced them "stretched enough" and lifted the barre up to place it off the floor.   
"Ok, now. Partnering is hard so we'll start with some easy stuff so you can get used to positioning and stuff. Also I have wings, so that's a thing. I've never had to deal with wings while partnering with people so I really don't know if it's doable, actually, but uh... Whatever I guess. And Noya is light so it was pretty easy to lift him and I'm not light, but you're kinda ripped so you can probably... Well, we'll see. Um." Suga was rambling, pacing a little.   
"Suga! Suga. It's fine. We'll just see." Daichi soothed.   
"Okay. Okay." Suga looked at Daichi, gears turning behind his eyes.   
"So I guess we'll just work on hand placement for now." 

Suga stepped in front of Daichi, opening his wings so he could put Daichi's hands onto his hip bones. "When you lift, your hands stay here. It's the sturdiest place to hold me by. If we were going to do turns or something, it would be higher, but I can't turn with my wings open and I don't think you can hold them to stabilize me, so we'll just not do that." Daichi nodded. Made sense. 

Suga rambled on about lifting, and grip, and how he was going to jump and all Daichi had to do was help a little, he wasn't going to be holding him up or anything. Daichi nodded, trying to keep track of everything he said, until finally he stopped him.   
"Suga, Suga, honey. Can we just try it? Then you can tell me what I'm doing wrong and I can fix it that way."   
Suga blinked, seeming to come back to earth.   
"Oh, yeah, okay. That makes sense." He nodded a little.   
Daichi's hands were still on his hips, just sitting there.   
"Ok so I'm gonna plié, and then I'll jump, and you'll lift, like, just to help me get higher off the ground, and then I'll come down, and it'll be fine. Like a changement, but I'll go higher because you're helping. That's all. It'll be fine." Suga explained, for the third time, hands over Daichi's.   
"Got it. Just lift. To help." Daichi repeated, trying to reassure Suga that he had it, yes, he got it, yes, made sense, yes, just like he had the last two times.   
"Okay. Ready?" Suga pliéd, started to jump, and then snapped his wings down, shouting "stop!" just as Daichi started to lift. 

"What, what! Did I do it wrong?" Daichi pulled his hands off of Suga's hips, instantly panicking that he had hurt him.   
"No, I just remembered. We don't have mirrors, but we do have-" Suga ran off to the supply corner, dragging out a strange frame thing that had what looked like plastic stretched over it.   
"-these weird things!" He pulled it over to the edge of the floor, turning it to face Daichi. From head on, it was almost exactly like a mirror, except that Daichi could see it wobbling from the movement. It almost reminded him of a piece of a laminated paper.

"What do we need a mirror for?" Daichi asked, a little confused. They'd always just watched each other dancing.   
"Daichi! Ballet is always done with a mirror! We just never use them because this thing kinda sucks and doesn't really give you the best reflection." Suga chided, as if Daichi should have known anything about ballet.   
"I'm not a dancer, Suga!" Daichi laughed. "Don't call me out like this, it's rude!"   
"You're rude!" Suga responded, prancing forward to kiss Daichi on the nose. "Now, back at it."   
"Why do we need a mirror, though? We were fine without it before." Daichi grumbled a little. He didn't really want to see himself mess up.   
"So I can see if your form is right, Dai." Suga smiled at him. "No offense, but I'mthe one going to get hurt if you mess this up, so I need to keep an eye on you.   
Daichi grumbled a little more, but didn't argue. It was true. 

"Okay!" Suga lifted his wings, Daichi put his hands onto his hips, and Suga pliéd again.   
"Just lift when I jump. Okay?" Suga repeated staring at Daichi in the mirror.   
"Okay." Daichi swallowed, Suga was right, and he was starting to get a little nervous.   
But Suga breathed and jumped, and Daichi breathed and lifted, and Suga went up and came back down, and that was it.   
"That was it?" Daichi asked, a little disappointed.   
"Well, yeah. That's the simplest thing you can do, lift-wise." Suga said. "You did great, though!"   
Daichi laughed. "Of course I did, I didn't do hardly anything!"   
"Well, you have to master the basics before you do anything fancy, so don't go getting any ideas." Suga turned around and poked him in the chest, then hopped up to his toes (elevé to sous-sous, Daichi thought) and kissed him. "Don't look so sad. We'll do this a few times until you're secure with hand position, then we can try something fun before we have to leave."  
Daichi brightened, kissing Suga again. "Okay, fine." 

They did it a few more times, Daichi lifting Suga for longer and longer, getting him higher as he figured out just how strongly he needed to be holding and what muscles he really needed to be using to lift straight up.   
When Suga was pleased with it, he said "do you want to try a leap?" and Daichi nodded, suddenly excited.   
"Okay, so you remember how we did these? Tombé, pas du bourre, glissade, and then leap?" Suga asked. Daichi nodded again. "Okay, so you'll just omit the jumps, and lift me instead. So we tombé pas du bourre together, but then you'll hold while I jump. Make sense?"   
Not really.   
"Do I lift while you jump?" Daichi asked.   
"Just the second time. Here, we'll walk through it."   
Suga showed Daichi how to use his arms, when to hover a hand next to his waist, when to hold with both, and where to lift. 

"Okay, now does it make sense?"   
Daichi nodded, swallowing.   
"Wanna do it?" Suga looked steadily into his eyes, seeming to sense his hesitation.   
"Yeah. Just to see." Daichi was pretty sure of himself now.   
"Okay!" Suga hopped again, excited smile on his face. Daichi loved that smile. If he could make Suga smile like that every day, he would be satisfied. 

So they started at the edge of the floor, stepping out at the same time and skipping across the floor. Daichi got his hands under Suga's wings, grabbing his hips and lifting steadily as Suga leaped.   
Time seemed to stand still. Suga's wings were spread, his face pointed towards the light coming from outside, and Daichi stared at him in the mirror, almost forgetting to keep walking forward. Suga's legs started to close from their split, and Daichi took the cue to start to lower him gently to the floor. He landed quietly, taking two more steps with Daichi, then stopped.   
Daichi held his breath.   
"That was PERFECT!" Suga exclaimed, spinning around to throw his arms around Daichi's shoulders. Daichi let out his breath, circling his arms around Suga's wings. 

"Okay, no offense, but that was the cutest thing I've ever seen." Yachi said from the entrance of the tent. 

They sprung apart.   
"Yachi!" Suga exclaimed, shocked. "How long have you been there?"   
"Long enough to see Daichi lift you better than you ever lifted me!" Yachi laughed, coming into the room. "The rest are on their way, just warning you."  
Don't be sassy, Yachi! Look at his arms, they're huge!" Suga moaned, placing his head in his hands.   
"We'll just pack up." Daichi was blushing, he could feel it.   
Yachi blushed too, looking at Daichi. She was shyer with him, he could tell.   
Daichi dragged Suga off the floor. They changed shoes and left, thanking Yachi again. She smiled knowingly at them, which Daichi chose to ignore. 

"Ok, that was fun, but let's do it earlier next time." Suga said, once they were out of earshot of the tent.   
Daichi smiled at "next time," but didn't say anything. He just bumped his shoulder into Suga's, linking their pinkies as they walked.   
*  
Daichi got better at partnering. And dancing. Before long, they were choreographing together, just little combinations, for fun more than anything. Daichi wasn't great, but he was strong and steady and Suga complimented him at every opportunity he got. 

The move date loomed closer, and Daichi was starting to get nervous. He was starting to feel like the tall buildings of LA were towering over him, getting closer. His plans were no more concrete than they had been before, and weeks had passed. He needed to see what the LA location looked like before he could plan, but he needed to plan before they were in LA. He was pretty stuck. 

He kept lying to the directors. Half-truths, white lies, hedging around things. They couldn't know they were together, or what they got up to together, but it wasn't like Suga was really doing anything wrong.   
That was Daichi's job. 

"Suga?" Daichi asked, quietly, one night. Suga lifted his head up from where it was buried in Daichi's chest and blinked at him in response.   
"What if I just.... What if I was in your part?"   
Suga blinked again, humming a "huh?"   
"I mean, I wouldn't be in your way too much, I could just lift you a few times and then leave. It wouldn't mess up your trapeze stuff, or anything." He was starting to feel like it had been a bad idea to even say anything.   
"You'd want to do that?" Suga asked, quietly.   
"I mean, yeah, I guess. I like dancing with you." Daichi put his face into Suga's hair, embarrassed.   
"I would love to dance with you, Dai. We can look at it in the morning, to see how we could add you in. Kenma can change their lights, they're amazing at it. Like, when we get to LA? Or next move?"  
"I was thinking... Maybe like.... Just whenever. A couple weeks into LA?" Daichi kept his tone casual, like he wasn't scheming.   
"Yeah, that works! We'll talk to Kenma tomorrow, they love a challenge."   
Daichi nodded a little, nose still in Suga's hair. 

A moment passed, and then Daichi whispered, again, "Suga?"   
"Yeah, Daichi?" Suga whispered back.   
"Do you want to stay here forever?"   
He could feel his heart pounding, and he could feel Suga's doing the same.   
There was silence, then "I don't know what my life would be, away from these people."   
Daichi's heart sank.   
"But I can't stay here forever. That much I know." Suga continued, in a whisper so low it was almost silent.   
Daichi pressed a kiss to the top of Suga's head, saying nothing.   
Suga said nothing else, and they slowly fell asleep that way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I literally love partnering someone lift me UP I'm too small to lift anyone else so I must be LIFTED!!!! I WANT TO BE TALL!!!!  
> I guess I'm dumping all my chapters right now lmao I'm impatient sry


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He preferred driving overnight, anyone who was driving the I-10 at midnight was out of it enough to ignore the wings entirely. The road showed you things you didn't expect, a man with wings was the least of your worries. Rest stops in the middle of nowhere were perfectly safe for him, in the dead of night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Drama! Action! Romance! An eight hour drive across state lines!

Daichi hadn't been sleeping well, Suga could tell that much. He knew Daichi was his own person. He didn't need to know everything about his life. But he was certainly worried. 

He finally confronted him about it, the night before they left for LA.   
"Daichi, if you're planning something stupid, at least tell me what it is. I need to know." He begged, in a whisper, at the top of the slide in the playground.   
"You don't need to know." Daichi hissed, trying to get away. Suga trapped him, knees on either sides of his thighs. "At least tell me if it involves me?" He whispered, imploring.   
"No." Daichi said, shuffling backwards and getting away from Suga, turning his back on him. "Stop pestering me." 

"Oh my god," Suga whispered, to himself more than anything. "You're leaving me."   
Daichi whipped around. "What?"   
"You're leaving me. We're going to get to LA and you're going to leave me, escape this hell circus, and go back to being a normal businessman in Tokyo." Suga was staring at the platform in front of Daichi, eyes blurring over until he couldn't even see the figure-eight pattern of the playground material. "Of course you are. How did I not see it." 

There was a beat of silence, Suga trying very hard not to let the tears in his eyes spill over. Then Daichi took two strong steps forward and took Suga's face in his hands, cradling it gently as he kissed him. Suga grabbed Daichi's arms and dug his fingertips into the muscle there, letting the tears fall.   
"Suga, how could you think that? I'm not... I never want to leave you, Suga. I want US to leave. Together. We can't stay here. YOU can't stay here." Daichi whispered, pressing his forehead to Suga's. "I'm going to get us out, but it's better if you don't know too much about it."

Hold on. 

"You? Are going to get us out?" Suga let go of Daichi's arms, stepping back and stage whispering. "Daichi, which one of us... Grew up on the road with these people? Which one of us knows literally all of the blind spots in their security? Which one of us has connections, favors owed by everyone here?" Daichi was staring like he had never thought of any of that. "Did you honestly think you were going to break us out without me knowing?"  
Daichi's mouth snapped closed.   
"I didn't think about that."  
"Mmhm. Clearly." Suga raised an eyebrow, all of the panic sadness of a moment before gone. It was replaced with what he could only describe as fond annoyance.   
Daichi stared down at his feet.   
"Daichi. Babe. Come on now. I'm their most valuable asset. I'm Asariel the angel. Without me they have almost no draw. You think I haven't tried to escape before? I have specific security trained on me at all times." He gestured with his head to where the security guard was, leaned against a building not too far away. "So if we're getting out, it's gonna have to be a team effort. Just because my wings are essentially useless doesn't mean I am." 

Daichi looked up at that. He looked horrified.   
"I didn't mean to say you were useless!" He whispered, hands coming up to his face. Suga covered them with his own.   
"I know you didn't. Just... We're a team, Dai. We're in this together. Okay?" Suga stared into Daichi's eyes, kissing him one more time for reassurance. Staying mad was a waste of time, he always said. It didn't achieve anything, and if he was going to get on board with an escape plot, he was gonna need to focus his energy elsewhere. 

"I'm sorry." Daichi breathed, then lowered his head to bite gently at the spot right under Suga's ear. He shivered, protesting lightly. "Dai, they can see us."   
"It's dark" Daichi replied, sucking a little at the side of Suga's neck.   
"We have to see the directors tomorrow" Suga reasoned, tilting his head back to give Daichi better access to his neck.   
"Mm" Daichi hummed, mouthing along Suga's collarbone.   
"They'll stare" Suga said, breathless now.   
"Let them" Daichi whispered directly into Suga's ear, before scraping his teeth along his earlobe.   
"We have perfectly good beds we could be in right now," Suga managed to say, hands tight around Daichi's upper arms.   
"Well they ca-what?" Daichi pulled back, pupils huge is the dark.   
Suga wrapped his arms around Daichi's waist and walked him backwards until they reached where the tiny ladder led up. "Plié the landing," he murmured into Daichi's ear, smiling, then pushed them both through the narrow gap and flapped hard while they descended.   
Daichi didn't plié the landing extraordinarily well, but Suga had slowed them enough that he didn't break an ankle.   
"That was ridiculous, Suga!" Daichi exclaimed, voice loud compared to the whispers of moments ago.   
"Hey, I didn't drop you, did I?" Suga asked, running his hand down the inside of Daichi's wrist to interlace their fingers. "Now come on," he lowered his voice, "take me to bed."   
He didn't miss Daichi's eyes widening when he punctuated it with a wink.   
*   
The next morning, Suga woke before Daichi. He dragged himself out of bed and to the mirror, taking in the damage. His hair and feathers were a complete mess, and he had small bruises littering his neck and chest. It looked like only a few were going to be visible, but it was definitely summer and moving day meant no makeup would stay put enough to cover them. Suga groaned a little, dragging his hands through his feathers, trying to get them to a reasonable level of disarray for morning. He was so focused on the task at hand that he didn't notice Daichi until he had slid his hands around his waist, pressing a kiss onto Suga's cheek. 

"God, Daichi! You scared me. How do you walk so quietly??" Suga chided, turning his head to kiss him anyway.   
"I'm a ninja, you didn't know?" Daichi teased, tickling Suga a little. Suga squirmed, trying to get away. "You look like you could use help."   
"No," Suga said, taking a step forward and away from Daichi. "You know very well what happened last time you touched my wings, and I'm trying to get LESS bedraggled, not more."   
Daichi laughed, putting his hands up. "I'm innocent! Just trying to help!" 

Suga stared at him in the mirror with a pronounced suspicious glare, then opened his wings a little to shake them out and said "no funny business, ok? I just need all the feathers going, y'know, the right way."   
Daichi put a hand over his heart. "Promise," and then started running his fingers gently through the feathers on his left wing. Suga closed his eyes, letting the repetitive motion soothe him. It was kind of like having his hair combed, soft and nice.   
Minutes passed. Suga was pretty sure he had never been this relaxed in his life. 

"Ok, you're pretty much good." Daichi said, patting the spot between Suga's shoulder blades softly. "Wake up time."  
Suga leaned his head back into Daichi's chest, moaning out a "nnnnooooo."  
"Well, I could continue, but I think we have a move to make around here, and I personally can't wait to get on the road." Daichi replied, kissing Suga on the top of the head. Suga groaned, but pushed off of his chest and started trying to wrangle his hair into something that looked relatively normal. His cowlick was a lost cause, always was, but the side of his hair was all fluffed up.   
Daichi reached past him to get to his toothbrush, and the two of them stood together in the tiny bathroom getting ready for the day together. Suga was suddenly hit by how domestic it felt, being with Daichi. He never wanted this feeling to end. 

After everything miscellaneous was packed, the entire cast and crew of the circus stood in clumps outside of their respective trailers. The directors walked around with clipboards to make sure everyone was accounted for. Daichi fidgeted next to Suga, who brushed his hand with his own every so often. He wasn't sure how effective it was, but Daichi seemed to still a little for a few moments after. Whether that was the reassurance or the angel magic, it wasn't clear.   
Security always kept a better eye on them than the rest, he and Hinata were on the highest level of security, followed by Kageyama, Asahi, and Noya, then the rest. Based on popularity and usefulness, clearly. But today it was obvious that there were several more security guards hovering around them, and when the trucks came to be hooked up to the trailers, it came out that Suga wouldn't be allowed to drive, this time, but they would instead be accompanied by a security guard, Saeko, who would do the driving. Upon hearing this, Daichi had bristled and stalked off to the directors, having a short, heated conversation that Suga couldn't hear, but had come back clearly unsuccessful. Suga fumed silently. He had been driving himself since he turned 16, illegally, but well. Still, there wasn't any point in arguing. 

Which was how Suga found himself pressed into the middle seat of the pickup, between Saeko in the drivers seat and Daichi in the passenger. Daichi had argued, saying that if they got in an accident, he should be the one to be in the more dangerous seat, but Suga had won out in the end by pointing out how much narrower he was than Daichi. He was seated up on what was almost a booster seat, to get him high enough to drape his wings over the back of the seat and into the back. It wasn't comfortable, by any definition, but he had to do what he had to do, and not getting to drive was messing with his day anyways, so he was pretty upset regardless. Daichi would run his fingers along Suga's thigh every so often, when Saeko was distracted, but he was still not pleased about the entire situation. 

He made awkward small talk with Saeko for a little while, but ended up staring out the window, watching the vast expanse of desert as it went by. There was a lot of nothing on the road from Arizona to LA, and even the radio cut out as they got into the middle of it. Daichi fell asleep against Suga's arm, and Suga wished he could fall asleep too, just to escape the monotony of it. He was too high up to use anything as a pillow, so he just stared out the window some more. 

Saeko stopped at a few rest stops along the way, to let them stretch their legs or use the restroom, but Suga was hesitant to leave the truck. He ended up putting a blanket over his back like a cape, even though it was just about 85 degrees and sunny. He looked strange, but it covered his wings enough to pass as a normal person, as long as nobody stared. He preferred driving overnight, anyone who was driving the I-10 at midnight was out of it enough to ignore the wings entirely. The road showed you things you didn't expect, a man with wings was the least of your worries. Rest stops in the middle of nowhere were perfectly safe for him, in the dead of night. 

Saeko muttered a small curse, miles and miles from the last rest stop, and Suga glanced at her, then noticed the gas light. They were behind the rest of the group, in the middle of nowhere, and they were going to run out of gas.   
And there was really nothing they could do about it.  
Suga stayed hopeful, but as they went, he got more and more nervous. Daichi was asleep again, so he settled for holding on to his sleeve with three fingers, fidgeting with it slightly.

He hadn't had many religious experiences in his life, but he was pretty sure that coming over the hill to see the city of Coachella at the bottom counted as one. Saeko breathed a sigh of relief from his left. 

After more gas was purchased, they were back on the road. It was just about an eight hour drive, Suga remembered from last time. Only a few more to go. Not horrible for one sitting, but definitely not fun. At least now there was something to look at, he thought, staring out at the cities they passed through. 

If there was one good thing about an eight hour drive in silence, it was the time it gave him to think. If Daichi thought they were going to escape in LA, then they had their work cut out for them. Los Angeles was one of their most popular locations, they stayed there longest. The only thing to worry about was timing. He was going to molt eventually, and while it didn't affect the show too much, there were only a few days in the middle where he couldn't fly, they tended to watch him closer to keep an eye on his feathers while they came in. It would be harder to get out, with the additional eyes on him, but he also knew his way around Griffith park, and there were lots of places to hide there. That was the handy part about having been in the troupe his whole life: plenty of time to learn everything about everyone and everywhere. 

They would need to stockpile supplies, without anyone noticing. They might end up camped in the park, or out on the streets even, and they needed to be ready. 

Suga had never had to worry about this, ever. 

He wasn't sure if he was ready.

He wasn't sure if he would ever be ready. 

He glanced down at Daichi, and his heart squeezed. If he was going to do it, he was going to do it with him. That much he knew. 

He let his mind wander again, staring out the window. He ran over his mental map of the park about a thousand times, thinking of where they had been he last few times, trying to imagine any kind of changes that could have happened since last time they were there. There was really no way of knowing until they got there. Which, if his mental math was correct, wouldn't be for another hour or two, depending on traffic. Which was going to become a problem very soon. Suga was already dreading it. 

Daichi started to wake up when they got to what was starting to look like true city. He stared out the window, eyes wide with childlike wonder. Suga remembered doing the exact same, his first time in California.   
"Are we in LA?" He asked the car at large, and Suga laughed.   
"No, we won't see what people imagine when they say LA, but we're in Los Angeles county now. I thought you'd been here before. Mostly people mean Hollywood when they say LA, but we won't go that far. We're going to stay at Griffith Park, which is kind of like... Well, like Central Park in New York, I guess?" Suga explained, the same explanation he got when he was a kid. He had never seen Hollywood, but had been reliably informed that this wasn't it.   
Daichi didn't seem to recognize the reference.   
"Uh... It's just a really big piece of land in the middle of the city that's all park still. Grass and trees and horse riding and stuff. It's very pretty!" Suga continued, trying to make it clearer.   
"Oh, like the temples in the cities in Japan."  
Suga cocked his head. There were temples in cities?  
"They're like... The temple is still there, and the whole garden around it, too. There are usually tea houses and wild cats that live there. They're friendly, though. They like people. And they keep down any kind of rodent problems there might have been."  
Suga was taken aback. He didn't know cats could be wild. Yachi had had a cat, briefly, before the directors had found it and taken it to a shelter. She had been broke hearted about it for months.  
"So there are gardens? In Tokyo?" Suga asked, in awe.  
"Yeah, of course!" Daichi was nodding.  
"I guess they are similar then. Huh." Suga smiled at Daichi, who smiled gently back. His heart squeezed again. He loved that smile.

"So... when will we be there?" Daichi asked, coming back from staring out the window again.  
"I've been asking myself that for hours. We have to get to the really gnarly freeways first." Suga laughed.  
"What do you mean?" Daichi looked genuinely confused.  
"More lanes, more cars, more honking. It's gonna be loud. Saeko is gonna suffer."  
She laughed out loud. "As if I'm not suffering already? We've been driving forEVER!" Suga laughed with her. She was right, they HAD been driving forever. 

Daichi huffed, mumbling "I never had to go on freeways when I was here before," but went back to staring out the window.   
*  
It was dark when they arrived in the park and started to get settled.   
"The tent won't be here until tomorrow or maybe the next day, so we have time to unpack all of our stuff and run around, within our limits. It also gives them the chance to decide what the limits are, I guess." Suga explained. "We have to have a specific crew come to take it down and drive it here all in pieces. As good as we are, no way are we doing that ourselves." Daichi nodded, grabbing more things from the bed of the truck to unpack them. 

"Hey, Kageyama!" Suga called, spotting the boys a little ways away. "What's the dinner plan? You always know stuff." Kageyama walked toward them, Hinata bounding after him.   
"They're going to get us pizzas!" Hinata shouted before Kageyama could get close enough to answer.   
"I was going to tell them, idiot! Don't shout!" Kageyama snapped, and Hinata looked away for a second, then turned back to grin at Suga.   
"I'm just excited!" He exclaimed, smoking a little from his hair.   
"You're always excited, Hinata." Suga smiled, bumping his shoulder a little with a wing. Hinata laughed, carefree as always, and bumped into Kageyama in turn, who blushed red and stared away from the group, visibly darkening.   
"We're gonna go exploring until dinner comes, do you want to come with us?" Hinata asked, using Kageyama's arm to jump up in the air excitedly. Daichi looked like he was going to say yes, but Suga shot him a look and he shut his mouth.   
"No, you two kids have fun, don't get too lost in the dark out there." Suga winked at Hinata, who let go of Kageyama's arm and blushed. Kageyama replied, "the dark wouldn't let him get lost, if I'm there," clearly missing the innuendo. From the way Hinata was steaming a little, it was clear he hadn't. Daichi snickered behind Suga, turning back to the trailer. Suga waved as Hinata dragged Kageyama away, then followed Daichi back inside. 

They would deal with the unpacking later, Suga decided, closing the door and bolting it behind them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've driven from LA to Tucson and back. If I had seen Sugawara Koushi complete with angel wings at one of those rest stops I don't think would have blinked an eye.   
> Coming over the hill to Coachella? Also real. I thought I was gonna die alone out there.   
> (I have ALSO been to the temples and pet the wild cats in urban Japan, it's great fun.)


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "These people accept me, wings and all, because to them I'm not a freak. I don't know." He sighed again, heavy. "Sorry. I don't know."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just some nice boys exploring Griffith park, having a good time, plotting heavily, the usual. Also more backstory, you're welcome.

Daichi stared at Suga, nestled in his arms, almost asleep. He was so, so beautiful. He ran the side of a finger down his cheek, perfectly smooth and warm. Suga fluttered his eyes open and stared at him.   
"Green," Daichi murmured, more to himself than to Suga.   
"What?" Suga asked, mumbling over the sleep in his voice.   
"Your eyes are green. I thought they would be blue, when I first saw you. But they're perfect. Very green. You're beautiful." Daichi said, not really thinking about what he was saying. Maybe it was embarrassing to call your boyfriend beautiful. He didn't really know the procedure on dating an angel.   
"Why blue? Stereotypical?" Suga said, eyes closed again, curled in to Daichi's arms.   
"I guess." Daichi hadn't thought about it, but yeah, most angels were blonde haired and blue eyed, in pictures.   
"They always draw them like that," Suga replied, as if he had read Daichi's mind, "but angels are as diverse as humans are."

Daichi fell silent, continuing to look at Suga's face. It wasn't often that he was the one awake, having your body constantly regenerating cells as fast as he did was tiring.   
"Is that why your skin is so perfect?" Daichi asked, quietly in case Suga had fallen asleep.   
"Yeah, that's the angel." Suga replied, eyes still closed butm cheeks flaring red.  
"And this?" Daichi asked, smiling as he ran a finger over Suga's warm cheeks.  
"That's all my mom." Suga said, rolling his eyes fondly.  
"I'd like to thank her, someday." Daichi said softly, continuing to stroke Suga's cheek. Suga smiled and burrowed his face into Daichi's shoulder.  
"Would you stop that? I'm trying to nap and you're being too cute for me to achieve it." Suga complained.  
"No, I like bothering you." Daichi replied, moving to running his fingers through the hair at the base of Suga's skull.  
"You're annoying." Suga said, words muffled in Daichi's neck.  
"Yeah, but you love me." Daichi teased, then realized what he said. He stilled, heart jumping up to his throat.  
"Yeah, you're right, I do, but I also love naps, so shhhh" Suga said, completely unruffled. Daichi breathed out, trying to stay as casual as possible, and kissed Suga on the top of his head.  
"Okay, fine."

Just as Suga's breathing started to slow, someone knocked on their door.  
"Suga, Daichi, pizza is here!" Yamaguchi's voice came from the other side of the door. "Yes, Suga, I'm serious, wake up, come on."  
Daichi chuckled while Suga groaned loudly. It was always fun to hear Yamaguchi's half of things, and to imagine what was happening on the other side. Daichi had asked, one day, if Yamaguchi was psychic, but had just gotten laughter in return. "I'm not psychic, necessarily, I can't read your thoughts, but prominent ones I can kinda... Feel. Like how you can kinda feel when someone is staring at you, but it's this weird awareness of what you're probably thinking. I'm wrong, sometimes, though."  
"Come on, he's right, we should really get up. You need to eat something." Daichi poked Suga, trying to reason with him.  
"Easy for you to say! You slept all day!" Suga complained, but started to move back anyway. "But I guess since you HATE me and want me to SUFFER I'll get up and eat pizza."  
Daichi didn't have to say that he could never not love Suga, not ever, for him to be sure Suga knew. 

They meandered out ten minutes later, Suga's wings and hair back in order thanks to lots of arguing on Daichi's side and lots of complaining on Suga's, and joined the group around the picnic tables that were scattered around the grass. The section of park that they had taken up residence in had been closed off to the public, so they had all the space they needed to spread out into various cliques around the site. Suga had been right when he said that everyone was friends with everyone here, but that didn't mean there weren't cliques anyway. Daichi had been easily accepted into Suga's group, but he was still friendly with the other performers. They were all backstage at different times, so he had had plenty of time to converse with everyone.  
They grabbed pizza from the dwindling pile of boxes and headed over to the table that Noya, Asahi, Kageyama, and Hinata were already sitting at. Kenma and their friend Kuroo were at another table with one of the tall security guards and another couple of crew people that Daichi vaguely recognized. Yamaguchi and Tsukishima were off somewhere, presumably still knocking on doors to get people out.

The night passed gently under the warm glow of the street lights, and Daichi felt comfortable and nice, conversing with his friends and brushing shoulders with Suga. Their thighs were pressed together under the table, but Daichi didn't think they were fooling anyone. Still, he wasn't afraid. He retreated from the conversation, listening in but not saying much, and leaned against Suga.

Suga started yawning after a couple of hours, and Daichi took that to be their cue to go.  
"Well, I'm exhausted." He announced, standing, "and if Suga comes barging in while I'm sleeping I'll kill him, so I'm taking him with me." The table complained amiably, Suga amongst them, but they let him go without anyone putting up any kind of fight.  
"Thanks," Suga said, bumping shoulders with Daichi as they walked, "I never would have gotten out of there."  
"I know," Daichi replied. "You're too nice to say you're tired. But you are, and I want to explore tomorrow, so it's bedtime."  
Suga looked up at him, smile bright in the shadows of the night, and Daichi's heart squeezed.  
They walked together, maybe a little closer than usual, nodding at security as they headed back into their trailer.  
*  
Morning came too soon, and Daichi definitely regretted his decision of saying they would explore in the morning. Suga was up, running clothes on and bouncing on Daichi's bed, before the sun was fully up.  
"Morning implies sun, Suga. Come onnnn." Daichi groaned, trying to pull Suga down so he would stop bouncing around.  
"Nooo I'm excited I wanna show you everything here there's so much cool stuff to see come on let's goooooooo!" Suga ended up straddling Daichi on his knees, grabbing his face with his hands. Daichi would have been distracted by their position if he wasn't so tired, but he was too sleepy. Suga kissed him all over his face, quick loud smooches that had Daichi laughing almost immediately.  
"Okay, okay, I'm awake!" Daichi laughed, batting at Suga with his hands. "Leave me alone!"  
"Never!" Suga didn't break stride, avoiding Daichi's hands to keep kissing him in places that weren't actively being protected.  
"I'm getting up! I'm getting up!" Daichi said, scooting his body back until he was sitting up.  
"Good! Let's go." Suga hopped off, careful not to smack his wings on the wall, and stood by the door.  
Daichi dragged himself the rest of the way out of bed and pulled on a shirt. His sweatpants would have to do, it was still chilly outside, and a little overcast. Suga bounced a little on his toes.

Once they had shoes on and Daichi had brushed his teeth, they were out. Suga grabbed bagels from the tables outside, evidently one of the first few people up and then they were off.  
The park was huge, and they were only allowed a small portion of it, but it was still a beautiful area. Suga pointed to some trees he had climbed as a kid, the path he had almost gotten lost on with Noya and Asahi once, and then pointed up at a path that looked like it led into the forest.  
"I think we're allowed this way, as long as we stay pretty well within the limits. It's obvious what they are, don't worry." Suga started to skip up the hill. Daichi followed him, somewhat nervous now. Any time anyone said "don't worry" he got the feeling like there was probably something he should worry about.

It turned out that there was a large flat area at the top of the hill, like a small clearing. It was a man-made clearing, obviously, but it was still pretty. And around the edge, there were...  
"Enclosures. From the old zoo. They're all abandoned, the zoo moved ages ago. But you can go in them, as long as they're like, open. It's super cool!" Suga was grinning, his eyes squinted almost all the way shut. He only smiled like that when he was very excited about something. Daichi looked around at the semi-creepy enclosures, a little bit grossed out by the way they looked, but still interested. They clearly had no idea what was an acceptable amount of space for a wild animal to live in.

They climbed through various enclosures, Suga keeping his wings tucked tightly to his back to keep them out of the way. The stairs were narrow and steep, and every inch of the walls was covered in graffiti. It was really quite fun, crawling into tiny spaces that nobody should be able to fit in and climbing onto the top of things that probably weren't meant to be climbed on. They ended up on top of what looked to be a storage closet that had been disguised as a pile of rocks, Suga using his flexibility and general agility to get up. Daichi had sighed heavily and followed, pulling himself up with strength alone.

Sitting above the clearing, watching other members mill about as the sun came up and keeping an eye on the various security guards wandering the area, they could finally talk in peace.  
"I'm scared, Dai." Suga had said, breaking the silence.  
"Me too." Daichi had replied, truthfully.  
"I've tried to get out before. About as successfully as you can imagine."  
"I know. But we have each other now. Strength in numbers, hm?" Daichi leaned into Suga, who put his head onto his shoulder.  
"I guess you're right."  
A beat, and then  
"Do you know why they call me Asariel?" Suga asked.  
Daichi shook his head.

"It's the name of a real angel. Long gone, of course. Biblical name, though, so it stuck around long after he died.  
At first, I didn't know either. I thought it was just random. When I asked, they told me it was because of my hair." Suga ran a hand through his silver locks, ruffling them up. "Angel ruler of the moon, they said he was. And my hair is the color of moonlight. Easy enough to swallow, right? Add silver makeup, a moon-related song, and anyone who googles him will see what they wanted to do.  
But I looked it up too, and dug through more than just the first web page I saw." Suga swallowed, then laughed bitterly. Daichi wanted to kiss him, but he didn't want to interrupt. He settled for circling an arm around Suga's waist.  
"Asariel's name means "whom god has bound."

Suga fell silent, and Daichi didn't know what to say, really.

"They named me that. On purpose. I know they did it on purpose, knowing I would go look. It's to remind me. I am bound. They are god. They've bound me. They own me." He laughed again, almost more of short bark than a laugh. Daichi felt his heart ache.  
"But they don't, Suga. Not anymore. Not now that you have me."  
"Mmm, yeah they do. They definitely still do. They're dangerous men, Dai. They won't hesitate to kill you if you stand in their way. I've seen it. We might get out, we might not, but either way they own parts of me that I'll never get back."  
Daichi looked down. He hadn't thought of that, really. The killing part, sure. But Suga was right. They had parts of him he'd never get back. His innocence, his childhood, his time.  
"We need to get out." Suga finished, lifting his head up to stare straight into Daichi's eyes.  
Daichi couldn't have agreed more.

They sat up there for a long while, breaking sticks into smaller pieces and throwing them down, trying to hit various random things, laughing at each others' failures, and generally having a good time. Suga pointed out Noya and Asahi sitting behind a tree, talking closely, and Hinata climbing things to backflip off of them, smiling with a sad kind of fondness in his eyes.  
"I love them, you know?" Suga said, staring down at the scene in front of them. "They're my family. I owe them so much." Daichi didn't respond. He wasn't sure if it was time.  
"I know I have a family. My mother, her family. In France, now, I think. They didn't stay in Japan. She moved there, following my father, but once he left and I was taken, she probably had no reason to stay." Suga spoke slowly, as if trying to convince himself. "We could find her, I bet. My grandmère, too, if she's still around." He sighed deeply. "They're my family, but they're not, really. I haven't known them since I was a child. They didn't come for me. This! This is my family, Daichi! Don't you see?" He gestured out towards the people in front of him. "I love them! All of them! More than my own family! They never knew how to deal with me. My mother was reminded of my father, and grandmère was cold and uptight. I had to teach myself to fly, nobody wanted to acknowledge my stupid goddamn wings, and now here I am. These people accept me, wings and all, because to them I'm not a freak. I don't know." He sighed again, heavy. "Sorry. I don't know." 

Silence stretched on. Daichi waited. Suga didn't say anything else. 

"Sometimes, I don't know if you're upset about being taken here or not." Daichi said finally, breaking the silence.   
"Y'know? Me neither." Suga replied.   
Daichi wiped the tears off Suga's face with the back of his free hand. Suga didn't seem to have noticed he was crying. He just leaned his head onto Daichi's shoulder, looking away.   
*  
It wasn't until they were climbing down off of the weird storage closet thing that someone noticed them, calling "Hey! You guys can't sit up there!"  
Daichi couldn't help but laugh a little bit. "We're getting down." He called back down, watching the man huff angrily from the ground as Suga hopped off, wings open just enough to slow his fall. "Plié the landing!" He said cheerfully to Daichi as they walked back over to how they had climbed up. Daichi got down, not quite to hands and knees, to climb through the bushes that separated them from the rest of the old zoo enclosures. Suga stared after him, a sour look on his face.  
"Can't I just glide down? I don't want to crawl again." He complained.  
"No, don't be lazy." Daichi replied from the other side of the bushes. Suga stuck his tongue out, but got back down and sucked his wings tightly to his back. Daichi looked to the side, noting the chain link fence holding them in had what looked like a damaged portion. He didn't look too hard, but it certainly looked like that could be worked with. Escaping into the woods was an unpleasant thought, but it was certainly better than nothing.  
Daichi did nothing but jerk his head towards it as Suga emerged from the bushes, ruffled up but not damaged, and took the widening of his eyes to be acknowledgement. "A little every day." Daichi said under his breath, and Suga nodded.

The security guard was waiting for them as they finally clambered out of the last enclosure on the ground floor. "Oh, Aone, you didn't need to wait for us! We had it handled!" Suga teased. The guard didn't smile.  
"You were very high up, Asariel. For your safety, we would ask that you do not return to that location." He sounded a lot like a robot, Daichi noticed, trying not to snicker.  
"I have wings, Aone. I don't think heights can hurt me." Clearly sarcastic Suga was a good Suga, Daichi thought, holding in laughter.  
"Our perimeter is not secure yet, Asariel and Daichi. Exercise caution when you approach the edges. We cannot guarantee your safety from the outside world." Aone said, not rising to Suga's comment. Daichi raised an eyebrow, and Aone seemed to realize his mistake. He turned on his heel and marched off, looking a little embarrassed. He had said too much, and now Suga and Daichi knew too.  
"It's kinda comforting to see him get embarrassed," Suga laughed, "sometimes he seems a little too robotic for comfort."   
Daichi laughed with him. "Thank goodness I wasn't the only one thinking it!"

The two walked back to the main camp, ready for lunch, laughing and chatting about nothing in particular with Hinata and a scowling Kageyama, who had noticed them coming out and ran over to ask what they had been doing. Hinata was excited for the tent to come so he could get back to performing, but it seemed Kageyama was enjoying the freedom.  
"He likes being outside at nighttime!" Hinata had said, jumping up, "so we had lots of fun last night when we were exploring! He'll never admit it though." Kageyama scowled. "Shut up."  
"See?" Hinata beamed.  
Daichi laughed with Suga. The two of them were really a handful, but it was clear that their bond was very special.  
"I think the tent comes tonight and then we get to open again tomorrow tomorrow!" Hinata continued.  
"He means in two days" Kageyama offered, and Hinata ran his shoulder into Kageyama's arm.  
"They know what tomorrow tomorrow means! It's tomorrow's tomorrow! You're rude!" Hinata bounced indignantly.   
Suga laughed, but Daichi was taking mental notes. Lots of time to explore. 

As they all ate lunch, Yamaguchi leaned over, breaking Daichi's concentration.   
"One track mind, mm?" He asked quietly, raising an eyebrow and smiling.   
Daichi suddenly realized that if anyone was going to find out, it was Yamaguchi.  
"I've known since before you did, Daichi. It's ok. I wouldn't tell, I agree with you." Yamaguchi's words were quiet enough for nobody to really hear, but not enough to be suspicious. Daichi muttered "thank you" back, and Yamaguchi smiled.  
"If there's anything I can help you with, I'll let you know. They don't quite trust you, but they don't really trust anyone. That's about all I have. I'll keep you updated." He shook his head a little, and it almost looked like his freckles moved on their own against his tan skin. Daichi blinked, the illusion over. Yamaguchi didn't not talk, he just kept things to himself, he realized.  
But he leaned back away from Daichi and inserted himself back into the conversation easily, and Daichi took the cue to do the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This Griffith park is not imaginary it is very real and quite fun. If you're ever in LA check out the Old Zoo it's radical. The security guard literally yelled at us when we were gettin down, just about four hours after we climbed up. Nice work buddy. You really showed us.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Well, yeah," Suga replied, smiling a little at the wonder on Daichi's face. "My wings are way bigger than your average bird, because I'm way bigger than your average bird, so it's, like, way bigger than your average feather. You've touched them, Dai."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> G O T I M E

Days passed, then weeks. They fell into routine here, like they did everywhere they went. It was never quite the same as the last place, but Suga had done this what felt like a thousand times, so he was pretty used to it. It was the life of the road.   
He was dancing, mornings not chilly anymore, in what was probably June, when it hit him.   
If he left here, what would he do?   
He spun out of his a la seconde turns, heel thumping down and leg dropping. Daichi stopped what he had been doing and turned to him.   
"You okay?" He asked.   
"Yeah, I just-" Suga paused. "I don't know what I'm good at." He stared at Daichi, willing him to understand what the real problem was. They were going to leave this show and he had no marketable talents. Nothing other than his wings, really. 

"Well, I do!" Daichi walked closer. "You're a dancer, for one. A beautiful dancer. Those turns were amazing! And a singer. Your song still makes me cry and I hear it every night. And you're a teacher, look at me! I was nowhere near this before I met you. And!" He wrapped his arms around Suga's waist, ignoring his blush. Suga wasn't really comfortable with this kind of praise, it was making him very nervous.   
"You speak 3 languages fluently, you can translate or interpret. You're great with kids, too, they love you and you communicate with them really well. And you like helping people. What can't you do, honestly?" Daichi finished his speech, punctuating it with a kiss on Suga's nose, then pulled back to smile at him. Suga blushed all the way out to his ears, he could feel it, but he smiled back at Daichi.   
"I love you, you big nerd." He said, touching his nose to Daichi's.  
Then he looked up, feeling eyes on him. 

Kageyama was in the doorway, staring at them, something like pain on his face.   
"Kageyama, you could have said something." Suga scolded, not making any effort to separate from Daichi. Kageyama furrowed his forehead, staring between them.   
"I have to talk to Hinata." He muttered, turning on his heel and disappearing.   
"God I hope he's going to kiss that boy, they both deserve it." Suga said, laughing and turning back to Daichi. "And speaking of kissing," he continued, rising up onto his toes to kiss him.   
"Aren't you worried about them seeing?" Daichi asked, moments later.   
"Nah," Suga replied, leaning his cheek against Daichi's chest. "Don't care."   
Daichi just laughed.   
*  
They spent their free time wandering the parts of the park they could, kissing behind trees and giggling as they hid from the security guards. They would climb up near where the broken fence was, and then Suga would run and swan dive off of something tall, flipping and spinning down to draw attention while Daichi ran off to cut away at it while they were distracted. Sometimes they would hide and wait for the security guard to catch up, then jump out to walk with them. "If we're going to walk, why don't we walk together?" Suga would say, looping his arm through the poor security guards' elbow. Daichi would roll his eyes, but it seemed to be taking suspicion off of the two and their constant excursions. Everything Suga did was calculated. 

So when his wing started to itch a little, a constant kind of itch that scratching didn't help, he did the math. 

The first feather fell out right on time.  
"It's here, Dai. It's my time of the month." Suga winked, holding up the feather and spinning it between his fingers.  
"You can't make time of the month jokes if it happens once a year, honey." Daichi said, looking up from his book.  
"Fine! It's my time of the year!" Suga fake pouted, throwing the feather at Daichi, and watching it spin to the floor a foot in front of him.  
"Better." Daichi went back to his book.  
"Daiiiiii!" Suga whined, climbing onto Daichi's bed and climbing over to lay his head in Daichi's lap. "Pay attention to meeeeee!"  
Daichi didn't look up from his book, but dropped a hand to run his fingers through Suga's hair. He purred, closing his eyes at the touch.

"So, what? Seven weeks until the new feathers are all in and we gotta clip them?" Daichi said, distracted.  
"Yeah. Snip snip." Suga replied, eyes closed still. "A week for most of the molt, then the rest for everybody else to come back in. There'll be a week or so in the middle there where I can't perform at all." Daichi hummed in response. They had decided against discussing anything out of the ordinary in their trailer, they couldn't know it was safe, so the conversation stopped there.

That night, Suga approached the directors box before the show started. He dreaded this part.  
After hesitating for a moment, he stepped inside. He suppressed the urge to pardon his intrusion, instead opting for "good evening gentlemen." They all turned to look at him.  
"Just here to inform you that my molt just started. I'll let you know a few days before I need to stop performing, but until then just be warned that there'll be a lot of feathers around." The room was silent, so Suga nodded and took a step out with a "enjoy the show, folks." Something was horribly eerie about being around them.  
He almost expected them to stop him as he walked away, but they didn't say anything as he retreated. Thank goodness. He had makeup to put on.  
*  
The show was uneventful for a few days, if not somewhat more feathery than usual. He didn't generally drop feathers, but during a molt they were visibly fleeing his body as he spun through the air. He knew he had fan websites, and it was doubtless that they had caught on. The show's numbers would start dropping in a week or two, but they actually went up right before. People came from all over to try to catch a feather, some for healing purposes, others just to hold on to. The elderly women and groups of screaming girls were easily separated into those categories, and security had a much harder job keeping them back when they had a tangible goal. Suga wished he could just pass out his feathers to them, they were worthless to him anyway, but the directors had them collected to sell online. It was one of the biggest rackets Suga could think of. His feathers had no healing properties, and they didn't really mean anything anyway. It's like if they were selling his hair! Or his teeth!

Daichi nodded. "It is ridiculous."  
It was about the millionth time that Suga had ranted about this to him, and he knew it, but he couldn't stop himself. "It's gross!"  
"Yeah, babe. It's messed up." Daichi replied, infinitely patient.  
Suga closed his mouth hard, pouting. He held his wings as tightly as he could squeeze them, then regretted it and shook them out. A few more downy feathers floated out, drifting to the ground.

"Ugh!!" He put his head in his hands, pressing the heels of his palms into his eyes. "This sucks!"  
He was always in a bad mood during a molt. It wasn't comfortable. His feathers were falling out, and he was sore, and the new ones were pokey coming in, and then they were trapped in their casings until they grew in enough for him to be able to break it. He felt like a teething baby, but with nothing cold to chew on.  
"Do you need anything?" Daichi asked, placing a hand between Suga's wings, clearly being careful not to touch them.  
"I might take a shower, I don't know" Suga groaned. They had never really done anything productive, but they felt nice and the heat might help clear his head.   
Daichi ran his hand soothingly down Suga's spine, then grabbed his shower caddy and two towels. "Let's go then." 

Suga let himself be led out of the trailer and into the shower. It was deserted, for once, and Suga headed down to one of the handicap stalls like he usually did. If it had been anywhere else, he would have felt uncomfortable taking a stall that wasn't meant for him, but in this case, his wings were a disability. And the bathroom wasn't shared with anyone except the troupe, that too.   
He hadn't really expected Daichi to undress and step into the shower with him, but he wasn't complaining.   
He really wasn't complaining when he stood in the stream of hot water and Daichi positioned himself behind his back, not blocking the water, to slowly massage his wings. He ran his fingers slowly through the feathers, soft enough not to pull, but just enough to take the loose ones out. Suga closed his eyes. It was so nice, being preened by someone else. No wonder birds did it all the time.   
He came back from the lull he was in when Daichi started gently massaging shampoo into his hair, then washing it out carefully.   
"Dai, I can-" he started to protest, but Daichi cut him off. "I got it. Just relax, alright?"   
He didn't protest.   
*  
Later that night, once Suga was de-glittered for the night, they found themselves in a hushed conversation on the top platform of the playground by their trailer.   
"How's the fence?" Suga asked, almost silent.   
"I can get through it, but I'm worried about your wings. Maybe a few more days, I'll work at it some more."   
"And after?" Daichi shook his head.   
"No idea. We'll have to run, but I don't know where to. I've gotten hold of Ikejiri, he can pick us up if we can find a street, but we're way out here. He can't find us on the map, just the tent. And we can't go anywhere near it, obviously."   
Suga nodded. He would stay away from that horrible place until he died, if he could.   
"I've talked to Kenma, they're ready whenever we need them. And Kageyama. He wanted us to take Hinata, too, but I told him Hinata would never leave him. He knows I'm right."   
Daichi flinched. "I wish we could bring them all."   
Suga put a hand on Daichi's thigh. "I know. Me too, but it wouldn't be safe. We're less likely to get caught and killed this way. They know, it's more dangerous. We'll come back for them, Dai."   
Daichi nodded. He looked resolved. "We will."

The conversation ended there. They sat there, Suga's head on Daichi's shoulder, thighs pressed together, until Suga started nodding off.   
"Come on, sleepyhead, let's go." Daichi shrugged his shoulders a little to wake Suga, who complained a little as he crunched into a ball to push up to a stand, dragging his wings behind him as he stood.   
"Oh!" He looked down, feeling the tiny bit of pressure as it released. "Flight feather."   
Daichi looked down too, a strange look on his face, then bent to pick up the feather. He held it up to his other hand, comparing lengths.   
"It's so big," he marveled, staring at it.   
"Well, yeah," Suga replied, smiling a little at the wonder on Daichi's face. "My wings are way bigger than your average bird, because I'm way bigger than your average bird, so it's, like, way bigger than your average feather. You've touched them, Dai."   
"Well yeah, of course. You don't need to sass. It's just more concrete when it's out." Daichi didn't look up, still running his hand over the feather. It was about as long as his forearm, and about as wide. He ran a finger over the top of it, feeling where the shaft had been cut. They weren't perfect with the scissors, Suga rustled a little on purpose to mess with them, and you could see it from this close. 

"It'd be longer, if they hadn't clipped it."   
"I was just thinking that." Daichi responded, finally looking up at Suga. "How long are they? When they're not clipped?"   
Suga shrugged, shaking his wings out a little. "No idea. Never seen them. Well, maybe once when I was like six, but, y'know, I was like six. They were only slightly larger than goose feathers then."   
Daichi huffed a little, pinching the open shaft between his fingers.   
"A year from now. We'll see them." He said, sounding very resolved.   
"Yeah, I guess so." Suga smiled, them yawned. "Something about bed?"   
Daichi nodded, and took his hand as they headed back to their trailer, Suga leaving a path of feathers behind him like breadcrumbs.   
*  
Suga stopped looking a little bald and started looking a lot bald towards the end of the third week of his molt. It was about then that he noticed a significant decrease in his control. His drops became faster, and his glorious sweeps to a halt were wobbly at best.   
"We need to go soon. Like, really soon. I'll have to pull myself from the show soon, I'm going to get hurt if I don't." He said to Daichi, sitting in the park again after the show.   
Daichi nodded. "Fence should be fine. I left one wire holding it closed, we'll pop that and then climb through. Easy enough. Then it's just getting out to the street, and waiting for Ikejiri. He'll come get us."   
"Can he come and wait for us? So we're not out and about?" Suga asked, brow furrowed.   
"We don't know where we are, dear." Daichi pointed out. Suga couldn't disagree, but he could pout about it. Which he did.   
They sat in silence for a moment, then Suga whispered "day after tomorrow, then?"  
Daichi nodded.   
"Will you dance with me?" Suga stared into Daichi's face. Here, lit up by the moon, Daichi was beautiful. Not that he wasn't always beautiful, Suga thought.   
"Of course. Last hurrah."  
And so it was decided.   
*  
They spent the next day practicing. In the tent, on the grass, in the dirt.   
"I can mark turns, I won't mess those up. But if you run into me, we have more of an issue.   
Daichi grumbled. "This is dumb."   
Suga pranced over to give him a peck on the cheek.   
"Don't be so dramatic. You'll be fine."   
Daichi kept grumbling, but returned to their first position anyway. If they were going to do this, they were going to do it well.   
Suga hummed and talked through the run through. Occasionally he would sing out what they were doing, to the tune of the song. He thought Daichi couldn't hear him, but when he caught him snickering as Suga sang "and then I climb the ladder and juuuump here" he realized he could, in fact, hear him. He threw him a glare, but kept doing it, hiding a smile. 

The show that night was wobbly, but Suga threw himself into it. If this was going to be his last solo show, he wanted it to be good. 

Yamaguchi was waiting at his table when he got backstage afterwards.   
"So this is it." Suga didn't say anything. He already knew.   
"Daichi's gonna dance with you tomorrow, then?"   
He nodded.   
"I'll let Kenma know, if you like. I'll see them tonight." Yamaguchi offered, and Suga smiled sadly. "Thanks, Yamaguchi. That'll keep suspicion down, I hope."   
Yamaguchi just nodded, patting Suga's shoulder as he walked by. He looked sad, too. Suga watched him walk away, catching up to Tsukishima, who ran his hand down Yamaguchi's arm. Suga smiled. Maybe they'd figured it out and gotten together, finally. 

Daichi was acting completely normal, but Suga could tell he was nervous. After they showered, they walked to the playground again.   
"Ready?" Suga asked Daichi, after sitting in silence for a while.   
"Not really. You?" Daichi replied, leaned against the chain of the swing he was sitting on.   
"Absolutely not." Suga laughed. He was terrified, of being caught, or killed, or lost, or being successful and making it out into the real world... There was a lot to be scared of.   
"We gonna do it?" Daichi asked, quieter.   
"Absolutely." Suga replied. He stared up at the sky, taking it all in. Here in the park there weren't many lights, but they were in the middle of Los Angeles, so there was a lot of light pollution. It was nothing compared to the view from the middle of the Arizona desert, but it energized him. The stars were free. And he would be free too. 

Daichi laid out a black shirt and his stretchy pants, packing some clothes into a backpack for the both of them. Suga took a special backpack and filled it with protein bars and other food they'd stockpiled. Suga had cut one of Daichi's sweatshirts up, putting in his Velcro so he could put it on over his wings. He put it, with some black pants over his backpack. The shiny white and silver was great under the lights, but not do wonderful for camouflage out in the trees. He would have to change out in the forest, so he was planning on just putting it on over and hoping it wouldn't get damaged. 

Not that he was going to need his costume anymore anyway. 

When they were packed, Daichi got into bed. Suga turned the lights out, then crawled into Daichi's bed next to him.   
"Oh, you're going to grace my bed with your presence today?" Daichi asked, teasing.   
"Absolutely I am." Suga spoke into Daichi's skin, snuggled firmly into his neck.   
"Good," Daichi replied, wrapping his arms around Suga. "I was scared. I'm still scared, honestly."   
Suga nodded. Tension was mounting. Stakes were high. This was potentially life or death.   
They fell asleep that way, curled into each other, warm and content with just each other.   
*  
Lights came up, and Asariel the angel was standing tall and proud at the top of his platform. The spot followed him as he fell, spinning and twisting, to the ground, then stopped himself before landing. If it was shaky, nobody knew. They were all too shaken by the song playing, the same pop song Suga had done silks to blasting through the speakers. He was famous for the same song, and they were definitely not expecting it. Suga basked in it. He loved keeping the audience on their toes, and this was one thing he'd never been able to do before. 

Daichi prowled onto the stage that Suga had just landed on, catching him around the waist and dipping him deeply to the ground. The audience gasped, not expecting a second person. He always danced alone, to the same song. What was going on? 

Suga could feel the confusion, so thick in the air he could cut it with a knife. He and Daichi danced, the same routine they had practiced forever. Daichi threw him, lifted him, spun him. Suga whirled and twirled, keeping his wings close to his body this time. The song swelled, and Suga's anxiety rose with it. He was back on the trapeze, letting it lift him up. The spotlight followed him, and he felt Daichi almost vanish from his presence as he rose. If he had been able to hear anything, he would have heard Daichi's footsteps pounding towards the backstage door, but he couldn't. All he could hear was the rushing in his ears, and the sounds of the song coming to a close. He reached the top, spinning around and twisting through the trapeze, then let go, speeding towards the ground. He flipped over, facing directly towards backstage, gliding as fast as he could. 

As the music ended, his wings gave out as another few flight feathers popped out, and he tumbled to the ground just as the lights slammed off, leaving them in complete darkness. Daichi's hand found his elbow and lifted him up, throwing the sweatshirt over his head and fastening it as they ran. Kageyama whispered "good luck" as they burst past him, and Suga touched his chest gently as a thank you as they went. 

Getting outside was easy. The path through backstage was cleared, most of the performers backing out of the way as soon as they had heard the commotion. Stumbling outside, they looked at each other in shock, then started their sprint to the clearing. They had maybe minutes, maybe less, before the chase was on, and now was their head start. 

It was time to go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Extra puntos if you've figured out what song it is (even though I kinda said the title in the last Suga chapter)   
> Anyway I hope Bakageyama kissed Hinata but who knows what that boy does in his free time?


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Suga was in tears now, but he kept an arm around Daichi as they started to run, shielding him with a wing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And they're off!  
> (If you wanna skip the part with blood just skip the paragraph that starts with "go, go!" but it rly isn't bad.)

It had been a stupid move, changing everything like that before trying to escape. Daichi could tell from the moment he came out, music different, that the directors knew something was up. But what's done was done, and they were out. It was time.

Everything was choreographed. From the way Suga ran in, to the trapeze at the end as Daichi sprinted off. He grabbed his backpack and put it on, standing directly to the side of the curtain out of sight, ready to help Suga put on his jacket as soon as he showed up. Kageyama was on the other side, eyes closed in concentration.  
"As dark as I can," he whispered to Daichi, "for as long as I can. You'll know when they get to me, I'm sorry. But I'll do as much as I can." Daichi whispered "thank you, Kageyama. We'll come back for you, I promise." as the music wound up.  
The spotlight went off at the precise moment that Suga somersaulted through the curtain, and they were plunged into the darkest dark Daichi had ever seen. He grabbed Suga's arm, lifting him bodily off the floor and ignoring the sharp pang that ran through his chest as he saw the feathers Suga had left on his tumble. He threw the sweatshirt over Suga's head, fastening it as they sprinted. He was vaguely aware of Kageyama following them, but felt his presence next to them end as they burst through the curtain into the open air.

They both stumbled a little as they found themselves outside in what looked like pitch blackness. All of the lights were out; the street lamps, the lights over the bathrooms, even the lights in the trailers. Everything was off. This must have been what Kenma had meant when they said they would make it dark, Daichi thought, before starting to run. Suga was running too, feathers fluttering off of him, shining white in the darkness. They knew where they were going. They had walked this route over and over, getting ready to do just this.

The darkness of the trees enveloped them as they made it into the path to the clearing above camp. Kageyama must have been holding this darkness, it was too absolute to be natural. They slowed a little, trying not to run straight into the trees. It was only moments until they would be in the enclosures of the old zoo, and then they just had to get up and out of the fence to freedom.

Security caught up with them as they got to the zoo. Daichi heard them before he saw the faint lights of their flashlights, clearly being affected by Kageyama's darkness. Suga dove into the nearest enclosure, staying low as he climbed the steep stairs, and Daichi followed him as close as he could without tripping over his wings. They huddled still in one of the tiny cages, backs pressed against the concrete, Suga holding his wings and Daichi holding his breath. The flashlights kept going, past their hiding place, and they took the cue to crawl out through the back, moving as quietly as they could to the part of the fence that Daichi had been cutting at for the past few weeks. He took the wire cutters out of his pocket and started working at the last piece, popping it open and bending the chain link fence open to let Suga through. The fence was loud as he moved it, and he ducked through as well, hearing the guards start to approach them again.  
"Go!" He hissed, and Suga stared back at him.  
"Which way?"  
"Away from them," Daichi said, taking off to the left. The path went both ways, but the security guards were probably coming around to climb the path towards them, and it was time to go.

They ran together, trying to keep an even pace, like they had all those mornings. Suga was still losing feathers, but they weren't very obvious in the dark. Just as Daichi thought that, the dark that had been keeping them so safely enveloped lifted, and Daichi almost blinked from how bright it was. They were still in the dark of night, but it was clear what had happened.  
Suga stopped running. He stared back over his shoulder, towards where the tent probably was, and whispered "Kageyama."  
Daichi stopped too, taking few steps back towards Suga.  
"He'll be alright, Suga."   
Suga turned back to him, eyes full of tears. "No, Dai. He only loses it like that when he's unconscious. They've knocked him out. Or killed him. Oh my god."  
Daichi blinked. He didn't know that was what Kageyama had meant.

"We need to go, Suga." He could hear the guards getting closer, their flashlights more obvious now. Suga took a shuddering breath and started running again, and Daichi took a step to follow him. As he did, he heard the crunch of someone's footsteps coming over the hill and turned just in time to see a security guard, faceless in the dark, pull a gun. He had one second to think before the shot rang out and he felt a pain unlike anything he had felt before. Suga's voice was loud in his ear, but he still couldn't understand what he was saying. It was like his leg was gone, his nerves torn and burned.

"Go, go!" Daichi shouted, vaguely aware of a wet warmth coming from his leg. He looked down and realized he'd been shot. His leg was covered in blood, and there was a hole through the back of his pants to the front, where it had almost been blown off. He'd taken a bullet right through his thigh, probably shattering the bone. He pushed Suga, realizing that they were both on the ground. Suga grabbed his elbows and lifted, and Daichi stood, feeling his muscles pull as they knitted together and tore again as he started to stumble forward again. Suga was in tears now, but he kept an arm around Daichi as they started to run, shielding him with a wing. The guard was getting closer, yelling something about holding still, but Daichi could see the bend in the path ahead of them, and his leg was healing despite him pulling at it.  
"Daichi come on please you can do it come on babe please" Suga was chanting, arm still around his waist to guide him. He could understand him now, which was a good sign. He had rarely experienced damage of this caliber, and he wasn't sure how he would heal now that he was running on it, but he didn't have a choice.

They rounded the bend, hearing the guards following them, and kept running. Daichi was getting faster, but the pain wasn't going away.  
Suga glanced back as they ran, and Daichi looked too. The lights were getting closer, and Suga looked up the hill to their right, down the hill to their left, and back at the corner.

When it was clear that the guards were about to turn the corner, Suga grabbed Daichi around the waist and threw them both off the path, wrapping his wings around Daichi as they tumbled down the hill.

Daichi wrapped his arms tighter around Suga, holding his head to his chest to protect his neck. This had been a pretty bad idea, but it was too late now. They rolled to a stop in the underbrush at the bottom of the hill and, in the sudden silence, heard the security guards discussing the best way to get down. They held still, Daichi still clinging to Suga's head, listening. The pain in Daichi's leg was subsiding somewhat, but he could tell something was wrong. It would likely be a while before he was truly healed.

They didn't move until the security guards split up, some coming down the hill towards them while the others walked both ways on the path, hoping to head them off either direction. Under the cover of the noise, they crawled under the brush to the other side. It was clearly a part of the park that was not meant to be explored, too far from the path to be controlled in any way. Daichi suddenly realized that there were probably wild animals to worry about, apart from the humans that were after them.  
Too late to worry about that, too.

They made their way through the trees, as quietly as they could, until Suga pointed to another strange building in the distance. They were still being followed, but Suga was right, they would be safer hiding than crawling through underbrush. It was summer in California, there weren't a lot of dead leaves, but everything else was dead, so being silent was damn near impossible.  
They made it to the building, which ended up being more like a weird concrete bunker thing than anything. Suga climbed in, and Daichi followed, staring at his wings. They were covered in dirt and blood, and Daichi wasn't sure if it was his or Suga's at this point. They huddled up, Daichi collecting the feathers that Suga left behind him and shoving them into his pocket on the way in. 

Now that they were together and had a moment to breathe, Daichi touched his leg tentatively. His skin was healed, it was usually the first to fix, but his bone was shaky at best. He looked at Suga, who was watching him. His face was streaked with tears, and he looked panicked.   
"Are you okay?" Daichi breathed, placing a hand on Suga's cheek and wiping at the makeup that was dried to his face.   
"No, not really. But we're out." Suga whispered, closing his eyes and leaning into Daichi's hand.   
"We can wait here, I guess." Daichi cradled Suga's head to his chest, and Suga curled up to wait. Daichi didn't mention the dampness he felt on his shirt, just held Suga's shoulders as they shook. 

An hour or so passed, and the hubbub died down. Daichi was sure they weren't done looking for them, but they were regrouping, and the coast seemed as clear as it could be. Daichi shook Suga a little, whispering in his ear. He wasn't quite asleep, but he wasn't quite awake either.   
"Come on, Suga. We gotta go. Come on."   
Suga groaned a little, stirring. He scrubbed his face with his sleeves, then looked down at his pants.   
"Do you still have my other pants? These are shiny." Suga asked, groggy.  
Daichi nodded, pulling his backpack open and tossing them to Suga, who pulled them on over his costume. Daichi would never get over his ability to change clothes anywhere.  
"It's a performer thing. They used to have me change under the stage there." Suga whispered, noticing Daichi staring. "Aren't we trying to escape or something?" He started to crawl out the other way, Daichi collecting his feathers as he went.

They started to hike down a path, as quietly as they could. Suga looked exhausted, and Daichi could feel his leg throbbing as they walked. The night progressed. Suga started crying again, tears running down his face silently. Daichi took his hand.

It was another hour or two before they saw lights in the distance. They were far, far away from where they had started, it didn't even look like the same park. There was a petting zoo, and pony rides, and paved streets. This looked like an entrance, probably. Daichi took his phone out of his pocket, checking for signal. It wasn't a main street yet, but it was paved, and Ikejiri could probably find them here. He sent a message, then waited. He didn't want to call if he could avoid it.   
Suga was looking at him, but his eyes were glazed over entirely.   
"Hey," Daichi whispered, putting a reassuring hand on Suga's shoulder, "look. We made it this far. Can we keep walking?"   
"I don't know, can we?" Suga snapped back to reality, finally focusing again. "You were shot, Dai. Because of me."   
"No," Daichi argued, "you don't get to blame yourself. Absolutely not. We're in this together, that's the way things happen. And I'd rather me than you. Can we walk, babe? Please?"   
Suga nodded, eyes down. Daichi kissed his head. 

They walked past signs advertising Fourth of July fireworks, and Daichi made a mental note to ask Ikejiri what day it was. Now that they were out, time would pass normally, he figured. It would be good to keep track of when it was, to know when the circus would leave again. Danger hadn't passed yet. 

The street they were walking down dead ended into a major street, and they were both staggered with the racket of it all. There were tons of cars, and lights, and noise. It was very overwhelming.   
"Daichi, your leg." Suga whispered from next to him.   
"It's fine, Suga, it'll heal." Daichi said back, trying to pull away from Suga's arm tugging at his sleeve. He couldn't drag his eyes away from the scene in front if him.   
"No, Daichi. There are people. They're going to see your leg and freak out. You're covered in blood." Suga said, insistent. "We need to get off the road."   
Daichi shook his head to clear it. Suga was right. He hadn't thought about it

They headed up the road and ducked into the next side street. Daichi's phone buzzed: Ikejiri was on his way.   
"He's close to here, Suga. He lives in downtown LA. We're going to be okay."   
Suga backed into the shadows, collapsing to the ground against the fence that separated the hill and the sidewalk. Daichi followed and crouched next to him, careful of his wings.   
"Oh, shit, Suga. Feathers." Daichi stood, wincing as his leg muscles pulled again, "don't move."  
Suga looked up at him. "Where are you going?" He asked, panic rising in his voice. Daichi stooped to kiss him on the forehead. "Your feathers, babe. Lead them right here. I'm just going to pick them up. I'll come back."   
He walked down the tiny street, grabbing feathers. If he could make it look like Suga got to the main street and vanished, better for them. 

A car slowed down and Daichi looked up, heart in his throat. Ikejiri leaned toward the window, yelling "hey! Daichi!"   
He breathed a sigh of relief.  
"Suga's up there." He called back, pointing towards the street Suga was on, and Ikejiri drove off. He grabbed the last few feathers and jammed them into his pocket, walking back up the street and turning the corner to where Suga was cowering in the shadows.   
"It's okay, babe, it's okay. This is Ikejiri." Daichi said, quickening his step to get to Suga faster. "We can trust him."   
Suga nodded, doubt in his eyes, and looked at the car. Ikejiri peeked out the window at them. Suga nodded back, suddenly shy.   
"Backseat, babe, come on. You have too much wing for the front." Daichi opened the back door, helping Suga in. He sat awkwardly, wings splayed out, and clipped his seatbelt. Daichi climbed into the front, grasping Ikejiri's hand.   
"It's good to see you, buddy. It's been too long." Ikejiri nodded.   
"Maybe next time we see each other it'll be under less extreme circumstances." Ikejiri said, smiling a little. Daichi laughed. "Hopefully." 

The drive was only a few miles, but it took a long time. They passed a lot of hotels, bustling with activity, and a couple of huge buildings that Ikejiri pointed at. "I work at the convention center, and it's really busy this weekend. Hence the traffic. Shouldn't be a lot longer though." Daichi glanced into the rear view mirror. Suga looked like he was mostly asleep, eyes half lidded and unblinking. Daichi didn't blame him. He was starting to feel the hours catching up to him. He glanced at Ikejiri's clock. It was almost one in the morning. No wonder they were so tired. 

Ikejiri's apartment was truly very close to the convention center, he hadn't been lying. They passed it and went under an overpass, and then they were driving down a somewhat rundown street that matched the rundown apartment building that Ikejiri lead them into. His apartment was small, just a kitchen and living room with two doors leading to what was obviously a bathroom and a bedroom, but it was nice. He'd cleared a space on the floor and laid out a pillow and some blankets, and put another blanket onto the couch. Daichi led Suga over to the couch, moving the blanket to let him lay down, then covering him with it once more. Suga mumbled a little, and Daichi kissed his cheek before backing up. 

He sat at the tiny table with Ikejiri in silence for a while, drinking the tea Ikejiri had offered him wordlessly. Daichi didn't know what to say.   
"So, an angel, huh?" Ikejiri said finally, breaking the silence but still quiet.   
"Yeah. Well, half angel. On his dad's side." Daichi almost laughed at how ridiculous it sounded.   
"When you texted me out of the blue, first time in years, asking me to help you and your angel boyfriend break out of an evil magic circus, I didn't know you were serious about all of it." Ikejiri chuckled. Daichi laughed too.   
"I know. I wish it wasn't as true as it is." Daichi replied, smiling and looking over his shoulder at Suga's shape, wings hanging off the edge of the couch.   
Ikejiri just nodded, thoughtful.   
"You really love him, don't you?" He asked, after a moment.   
Daichi turned back, staring at the dregs of his tea, and whispered "Yes. More than anything."   
Ikejiri stood up, taking his empty mug to the sink, and then walked back to the table. He put a hand on Daichi's shoulder.   
"I'm happy for you, Daichi. And I'll do what I can to help you, both of you. I don't have a lot, but you can stay here as long as you need."   
Daichi looked up at Ikejiri, a little choked up. "Thank you," He whispered. It was all he could manage. 

"Turn the lights off when you go to bed, alright? I work early, so you won't see me until the evening."   
Daichi nodded. Ikejiri vanished into his room, and Daichi walked over to the blankets on the floor. Somehow he was reminded of his first day with Suga, sleeping bag on the floor, nothing but a backpack full of clothing to his name.   
He pulled his ruined pants off and stared at his bloody leg. He could shower in the morning, he decided, flicking off the lights, climbing into the blankets, and closing his eyes.   
The last thing he saw before drifting off was white wings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When me and Max got yelled at by the security guard we may or may not have climbed around in the parts of the old zoo that you're not supposed to climb around in. Oops.   
> Ikejiri is such a ride or die I love him.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They drank their coffee in silence, and then Suga asked, "so what's the plan, Dai?"   
> Daichi looked up, the worry on his face slowly sinking back in. Suga almost wished he hadn't said anything, and let the moment go on. There was so much unknown, so much left to be done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Up up and away, but more like away and then up up.

Suga woke up to the sound of water running and the smell of coffee. He rolled off the couch, catching himself with his legs like he usually did, then falling forward onto his hands. He hadn't realized how sore he was.   
He stood up, then sat back down on the couch, looking over at Daichi.   
"Coffee's on, and the shower is warming up. Ikejiri told me it was slow, so I got it running for us. It's probably ready." Suga smiled. He might be half angel, but Daichi was the real angel of the two.   
He stood up, walking into the tiny kitchen to wrap his hands around Daichi's waist to kiss him. Daichi slid his arms around Suga's shoulders, running a hand through the hair on the back of his head. Suga hummed. 

"Okay, okay. Hot water. Sooner than later. Come on." Daichi separated from him, pulling back to look at his face. Suga tried to lean in and press his cheek on Daichi's chest, but Daichi stopped him.   
"We could be doing this exact thing but with hot water involved, Suga. Come on, let's go."   
Suga let himself be pulled into the bathroom, shedding both layers of pants and his costume shirt. He must have pulled off his sweatshirt sometime during the night, he thought vaguely. It wouldn't be the first time.   
The water running from his wings was discolored, brown from the dirt and blood caking them. Rolling down that hill had torn his skin in several places, he could feel them stinging as Daichi ran his fingers carefully through his feathers. They would heal, but they still hurt.   
While Daichi rubbed the dried blood off of his leg, Suga took note of the damage done. There was clearly a scar, his skin puckered and pinched where it had knitted together, but he looked alright from the outside.   
"How is it?" Suga asked, nervously. He wasn't sure how this worked.   
"The bone probably left pieces that my muscle absorbed as it healed. They'll get broken down or rejected in a few days, but until then, I should probably walk as little as possible." Daichi said, thoughtful, staring at his leg. "Not that we were going anywhere anyways. We need to wait for it to die down before we can risk being seen." Suga nodded. He had been thinking the same thing. He leaned in to Daichi, cheek to chest, and sighed heavily. Daichi sighed too. He leaned back against the shower wall, then yelped and flinched away, jostling Suga.   
"It was cold!" He protested as Suga raised his head to glare, then the two of them started to laugh. They didn't stop for a long time. 

The water was running cold by the time they got out of the shower, but the coffee was just the right temperature. Suga found creamer and sugar to mix in, and Daichi stared at him in disbelief as he took long drags of his own coffee, black.   
"Why would I suffer," Suga asked, taking a sip of his coffee, "if I could make it good? Why?"   
Daichi looked at his own cup, then at Suga's. "It looks like hot chocolate! What's the point if it's not bitter?"   
"The point is enjoying something, Dai!" Suga laughed, walking slowly to the table to sit down. Daichi followed him, stationing himself behind Suga's chair to massage his shoulders. Suga closed his eyes, leaning into the touch, but jerked around a moment later.   
"Daichi! You have to sit down! What are you doing!" He said, indignant.   
Daichi laughed, then limped gently over to the other chair, sitting down and straightening his leg in front of him.   
"It's not going to help, really. But I won't turn down sitting. Yesterday was... Long." He took another long pull from his coffee. Suga sipped his own.   
"Yeah, it was." He could feel his muscles protesting. He was in good shape, he could dance for hours on end, but that had been different. His body was definitely mad. 

They drank their coffee in silence, and then Suga asked, "so what's the plan, Dai?"   
Daichi looked up, the worry on his face slowly sinking back in. Suga almost wished he hadn't said anything, and let the moment go on. There was so much unknown, so much left to be done. He wasn't sure if he had any kind of legal documentation, or even if he was a citizen. He had been born in Japan and brought here as a child, it was unclear to him if the directors had ever done the paperwork to give him citizenship. It was going to be hard to do anything without that, but what choice did he have?   
Daichi avoided his eyes for a bit.   
"Ikejiri said we can stay here as long as we need... But we'll need to get out of the country. You're not safe here; they'll be looking for you, and I doubt they'll ever stop. Those men will do anything to get you back, I'm sure." 

Suga wasn't so sure.   
"They have other performers, Daichi. I don't think they'll follow me forever, they'll find other people... I'm not that important."   
Daichi looked up. "If you're not that important why did they hire me to report back to them about you? Don't be an idiot, Suga, you're their most valuable asset."   
Suga almost didn't hear that last bit.   
"I'm sorry, they what?" He asked, ears suddenly ringing.   
Daichi froze. "What?" He replied, voice casual.   
"They hired you to what?" Suga asked again. He was lightheaded, the room felt like it was spinning.   
"Oh, Suga, no, it wasn't-" Daichi started to talk, but Suga stood up, pushing the chair back with a loud screech, and backed up away from him.   
"You were a spy. The whole time, you were spying on me. Is that what you're saying?" He demanded, accusatory. Daichi stood too, taking a step towards him.   
"No! Don't come near me!" Suga practically screamed, running into the door as he backed away from Daichi.   
Good. He could get out.  
He fumbled with the doorknob behind him and ripped the door open, still staring at Daichi with fear and anger bubbling in his stomach in equal parts. He slammed it behind him and took off running, feeling his angry muscles scream in protest. He didn't really know where he was going, but he needed to get away. 

He ran under the overpass from before, taking a left and running up into the more crowded part of the street. Maybe he could get lost in the crowd, find safety in numbers. His eyes were blurred with tears again, but he could still hear Daichi running unevenly behind him.   
He just kept running. 

Suddenly, he was surrounded by huge crowds of people. Something was odd about them, but it didn't register what it was until someone touched his wrist as he walked past them. He whipped around, spooked.   
"Oh, I'm sorry!" The girl said to him, shaking her blue hair out of her face. "I didn't mean to scare you! I just wanted to say I LOVE your wings! Did you make them?"   
Suga blinked, then took in her whole appearance. Upon closer inspection, her hair was most definitely a wig, and she was wearing some kind of idol costume. Suga glanced around, noticing what was wrong with the crowd. Everyone was in some kind of costume.   
"What?" He asked, disoriented.   
"Sorry, sorry. It's loud out here." The girl leaned closer, shouting a little over all the noise. "I love your wings! They're really cool. Did you make them yourself?" Suga understood.   
"Yeah," he replied. "Yeah, I made them." The girl beamed.   
"They're SO cool! Good work!" She said, then held up her phone. "Could I take a picture? Do they open?" Suga nodded, almost on autopilot. He opened them a little, striking a pose, like he did for his promotional photoshoots. He ignored the few feathers that fluttered down, but she noticed them.   
"You're shedding a little bit! The cosplay repair room is in the exhibition hall again, if you want to put these back on." She handed him the feathers. "Well, thank you!" She held up her phone, then pranced off towards another huge building. Suga watched her go, vaguely aware of the crowd parting to get around him. He snapped his wings closed and suddenly missed Daichi. He wasn't great in crowds, he was usually in front of them, and he was nervous. 

He shouldn't have run, he thought. That was a terrible idea. And now he was lost out here, surrounded by people in costumes, and it wasn't even Halloween.   
Another hand on his shoulder spun him around, ready to defend himself. This time, it was a familiar face.   
Daichi held his hands up, as if Suga had a gun pointed at him.   
"Suga, I'm so sorry I lied, and I promise I'll never do it again, but I really need you to come with me, we need to get back somewhere where we won't be so-" Daichi broke off suddenly, looking around. "What in the..." He said, almost to himself.   
"I know, Dai. Some girl just asked me if I made my wings and I think she told me I could put the feathers back on if I went into a hall." Suga said. He was still in shock.   
"Where ARE we?" Daichi asked, gazing out at the crowds.   
Suga pointed to the huge sign on the building.   
"Anime Expo, I'd guess."   
They both stared at the sign for a moment, then turned to each other. They looked at each other for a moment, Suga's confused expression mirrored on Daichi's face, then both burst out laughing at the same time. 

"How do we always end up in the weirdest places?" Daichi asked, wheezing a little bit. Suga slapped his own leg, shaking with silent laughter.   
"I don't know! I told her I MADE these!" He choked out, shaking his wings out to let a few more feathers descend.   
They finally stopped laughing and walked together to a bench in the middle of the crowds, between two huge buildings. A few people stared at Suga, who looked around nervously, but when one teenager called "hey! Great wings!" from across the plaza, he smiled.   
"I think... I'm safe here." Suga said to Daichi, turning to him with huge eyes. "They all think they're a costume."   
Daichi nodded, looking thoughtful. "And we're surrounded by people. It would be hard to find us here, for sure." Suga glanced around again. He was right. They were blending in perfectly well.   
"What a world we live in." Suga said, pointing at someone painted entirely blue, wig and dress included. "Look at that! What is all this!"   
Daichi shook his head, staring out as well. "I really don't know, babe. I don't watch this stuff." 

"I'm sorry I freaked out and ran away." Suga mumbled after a few minutes of silence.   
"No, don't be. I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I was afraid you'd freak out." Daichi tilted his head a little, and Suga shot him a glance out of the side of his eye. "Well, I guess I was right. I didn't tell you because when I first came in I wasn't expecting to fall in love with you so I actually was going to do my job, get paid for keeping an eye on you. But they scared me from day one, and you were so wonderful, and I didn't want to hurt you, so I lied to them. They don't know anything more than they did before I came, I promise." Daichi chewed on the nails on his right hand, his left pressed over the scar Suga couldn't see but knew was there. He put one of his hands over Daichi's larger, darker one.   
"It's okay. You were doing your job. I get that." Suga said softly, leaning in to kiss Daichi. The directors scared the shit out of him, if he was honest with himself. He wasn't sure if he would have even been able to do what Daichi did, sit in front of them and lie.

They broke apart when they heard a chorus of squeals coming from next to them. A group of teenage girls was standing maybe ten feet away, all in matching schoolgirl uniforms, giggling and looking away from them. Suga stared at them. Why were they squealing?  
One girl was shoved towards them, the rest of the group giggling behind her, and she approached them shyly.  
"Hi, um, sorry, but are you Asariel?" She asked, blushing deeply red and not looking right at them. Suga's mouth dropped open, and he was silent for a moment.  
"How did you know?" He choked out, a moment later.  
"The wings and the hair. They're really good. The wings, I mean! Well, not that the hair isn't good too! Um." She stuttered out. "And who are you?"  
It clicked. She thought he was dressed up as Asariel, like everyone else here was dressed like a character from something.  
"He's... Michael." Suga said, quickly. "The Archangel." He couldn't remember if Michael was actually an Archangel. He thought he was, but he wasn't 100%. This girl wouldn't know, that was for sure.  
"Oh!" The girl looked shocked. "Um, could I..." She held up her phone. The entire group of girls giggled behind her.  
"Oh, yeah. Sure." Suga said, and Daichi started to protest, but Suga kicked him. He smiled, opening his wings a little, making sure to make it as mechanical as possible. Better to sell the story.  
They smiled next to each other on the bench for a moment, letting her take the picture, but didn't separate when she thanked them and bowed a little, skipping back to her group of friends. They all gathered around to see the picture, giggling loudly.  
"I guess it could be flattering," Daichi grumbled, "but I feel like you're some kind of spectacle."  
"When have I ever not been?" Suga laughed, and Daichi laughed with him.  
"Dang, you're right" Daichi replied, kissing Suga's cheek. Suga grinned.

They sat there, people watching, occasionally getting a photo taken, passing the day outside. Suga was antsy, itching to dance, but unwilling to draw more attention to himself. Daichi held his hand, not afraid to be seen anymore.

"We should probably go back," Daichi said, as the sun started to disappear behind the buildings. Suga frowned.  
"But-" he started, but Daichi cut him off.  
"It's not safe out here. We've been seen, we've been photographed, we're too exposed." Suga's heart sank. He was right.  
"Okay. Fine." They stood and headed back towards the apartment, hand in hand, the crowd parting a little for Suga and his wings.  
"Can we come back tomorrow?" He asked, hopefully.  
"I don't know if that's a good idea." Daichi replied, voice quiet and sad. Suga knew it wasn't, but he was still sad.  
*  
Days passed, and Suga was starting to rattle around the apartment like pennies in a tin can. Ikejiri had gotten Daichi a job doing extra security for the convention center a few days after the anime convention had ended. While this was a good thing, Suga knew they needed money to get out of the states, it did leave him alone in the apartment for the entire day. There was only so much TV you could watch, he thought, before your brain started to hurt. The apartment had never been cleaner, Ikejiri commented one day, and Suga frowned. "I have to do something. I'll stop, if you want." He had said, sullen, and Ikejiri had laughed loudly. "No, absolutely not, if you want to clean, please." Daichi had laughed too, much to Suga's chagrin.

The kitchen was tiny, but that didn't stop him from trying to dance in it. He couldn't do things like turn without banging his knees into the counters, but he pliéd and relevéd and changemented, just for something to do. He moved the table to dance in the living room, stretching on the carpet and playing pop music from Ikejiri's TV to improvise to.   
Ikejiri's TV could do everything, it seemed like. When you grow up with almost no access to technology, a "smart TV" is exactly as advertised. Suga had never seem so many shows in his entire life, and he was only on one of the many screens. Daichi had showed him how to scroll through them all to find things to watch, and Suga had just scrolled for a few days, not even clicking anything. He had thought he was pretty up to date with what was happening in the world, but boy had he been wrong.

But even the entire internet at his hands wasn't enough to entertain him, so Daichi came home with a very old tablet one day, passing it to Suga at the dinner table.  
"It's old and slow, but it'll serve. You can write on there." He showed him an app he had installed that Suga could type away on, and told him "write your story."  
Suga had insisted that he wasn't a good writer, that it was a terrible idea, but Daichi had just shrugged. "You don't have to, but it might be fun."  
The truth was, Suga had never really tried to write before. He didn't know if he was a good writer or not. But it seemed daunting, and he didn't really know where to start, so he stared at the blank page for a long time, not writing anything at all.

In the breaks between staring at the tablet, vacuuming up tons of feathers, and watching anime on Ikejiri's TV, Suga started looking things up. He was endlessly curious about, well, himself. The internet was covered in pictures of him from his shows, speculations about what he really was, art, even fanfiction about him. From the fan sites, he learned that the way his wings acted was more swan than eagle, which was how they folded the way they did. That's how he fit all five feet of wing into the three feet of his back that they occupied. He'd never really thought about that before, just accepted that they folded up neatly so he didn't have to move them too much to be able to sit. They also talked a lot about the shape of his wings, arguing over whether or not there was something wrong with them. Everyone who had something to say agreed that they were blunter than they should be, which Suga couldn't argue with. The trim took more than a few inches off, so he could tell what they meant. There were lots of pictures, comparing his wings to other birds, and they were definitely a little wrong. The internet as a whole seemed split between birth defect and just accepting them that way. The few people who had suggested foul play were shot down immediately. Suga almost wanted to tell them that they were right, just to make them feel better about the whole thing.

He spent a lot of time staring at his wings. The flight feathers had all come out by now, and were coming back in pokey and ugly, in their casings. Daichi rubbed at them in the shower every night, trying to get the casing off without damaging them. They were starting to loosen, but Suga wasn't in a hurry. Nowhere to go, anyways. The flight feathers were longer than he was used to, so when the first few started to come out and fluff up, he had to readjust to the new length so he wouldn't sit on them. This was his life now, and he would have to get used to it.

Aside from just his wings, the internet had a lot of speculation on his life, the meaning of his name, his history, everything about him. All anyone seemed to talk about these days was his disappearance, trying to find out where he was, who Daichi was, why he had danced with Daichi, what they had done by leaving. At first he had been nervous about Daichi going to work and being recognized, but Daichi pointed out that nobody had recognized him thus far, and Suga had to agree that the pictures of him weren't as high definition as Suga's were.  
Finally, reading things about his own life that were downright outlandish started to annoy him to the point that he really did start to write. He knew his own life, and nobody else did. So he started at the beginning, as far back as he could remember, and just wrote what came to mind. It didn't matter so much what he wrote, nobody would read this.  
Well, he thought as much.  
*  
A few weeks passed, and finally, all of his feathers were in and open. His wings were longer than ever, and much more proportional. After comparing them to pictures of real birds, he decided that they were as grown in as they would be, and that he could fly now, if he wanted. That day, over dinner, he proposed the idea to Daichi while Ikejiri was in the bathroom.  
"They're all the way grown, I looked at picture and everything, and I think I could fly now." He said, smiling across the table at Daichi. "Then we can get anywhere! I can just fly there!"  
Daichi looked worried. "I don't know, babe, it might not be safe..."  
"I haven't flown in years, Dai! Not really, at least. Gliding isn't the same!" Suga said, rustling a little in agitation.  
"That's what I mean. You haven't flown in years. What if you fall and hurt yourself? What if you can't fly because your muscles came in wrong? It seems risky."  
"Then what was the point of leaving?" Suga asked, no emotion in his voice. "If not for freedom, why did we leave? Being cooped up there, being cooped up here, what's the difference?"  
Daichi looked heartbroken. "Suga, it's not like that. I just don't want... I'm afraid of losing you." He stared at his hands. Suga felt bad just for saying it.  
"I know. But we need to get out somehow, and if we need to get out of the country, I can just... Fly, y'know? I need to try, at least. Please."  
Daichi sighed. "Yeah. You're right. I just... I worry too much."  
Suga smiled. "Of course you do."  
Ikejiri came back out from the bathroom, so they stopped talking about it, but the subject certainly wasn't dropped.

A few days later, Daichi had an afternoon off, and the two of them took a rental car out to a beach up the coast that was fairly out of-of-the-way and, most often deserted. More importantly, it was on a cliff. A fairly tall cliff. With large boulders at the top, and sand below.  
"He said that he had a friend who rock climbs on the boulders, and they're not so hard if you use the right side. We can probably get up them, and you can... Jump off, I guess." Daichi looked nervous, pulling into the parking lot and stopping the car. Suga was bouncing in his seat.  
"And I get to jump off the cliff??" He asked, still bouncing.  
"No! Not yet! Just off towards the car, to see how it all works. It's windy around here, too. There's always lots of wind around the ocean."  
Suga had never seen the ocean. At least, not that he could remember. He couldn't wait to see it. It was big, and there were waves, which he had only ever seen in videos. Nothing like the pools and tiny lakes he'd seen, in various campsites dotted across the country.  
He jumped out of the car and ran out to the edge of the cliff, staring at the ocean. It was dark, almost more grey than blue, but the afternoon sun was shining and the waves were small. He turned around, wind whipping his hair, and grinned at Daichi.  
"This is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen!" He shouted over the wind, blinking in the sun. Daichi was watching him from the car, a warm smile on his face. Suga pranced back, standing on his tip toes to kiss Daichi over the car door.   
"Okay, can we go now, or are you going to stand there looking at me all day?" He teased, impatient.  
"Well, excu-use me for liking to look at you!" Daichi said, dramatically rolling his eyes and closing the car door behind him. Suga caught one glimpse of the huge smile on Daichi's face before he ran off again, climbing the most accessible side of the biggest boulder with only minimum help from his wings. Daichi followed, relying more on his strength than agility. Suga watched his arms appreciatively.  
When they were both at the top of the rock, Suga bounced on his toes again. He knew he could glide, that was easy, but this was new and different. He was afraid. Not of falling, that was his specialty. He was mostly afraid that he wouldn't be able to fly, that he would fail, and never be able to fly again. Years of being clipped had probably stunted him at least a bit, and he didn't even remember how he had done it before.  
"Are you ready?" Daichi asked, nervous.  
Somehow, Daichi's nerves calmed Suga's.  
"Absolutely."  
"Okay. When you jump, I'll climb back down. If it gets hard, you can come down and I'll... Try to catch you." Daichi worried, wringing his hands like he did when he got nervous.  
"I got this." Suga kissed Daichi lightly, smiling at him and pressing his forehead to Daichi's briefly. "I'll see you down there."

So he took a few steps forward at a run, opening and flapping his wings as he reached an edge and launched off, and then he was up.

It certainly wasn't easy. There were currents to watch for, and he had to tilt in a way he didn't need to before, because he needed lift and not drag. His muscles pulled and strained as he flapped down, harder than he usually did. He shot up, too high. The wind from the ocean pushed him inland, and he turned to face it, carving a wide circle with the tip of his outside wing. He held his arms close to his body, legs out behind him, and leaned down into the wind.  
This was the right thing to do. The lean and tucking himself in a little sent him forward and he was flying, really flying, for the first time in a very long time.  
He circled, pulling up and diving down, swooping towards Daichi, who was whooping from the ground. He opened his mouth and laughed, loud and joyful, letting the wind carry it away.  
He was happy. With Daichi below him, and the whole sky above him, he felt free for the first time in what felt like forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I quite literally wrote them into LA, in early July, for the express purpose of having them be able to stumble into AX. (I imagine the first girl is Hatsune Miku, the all blue girl is Lapis Lazuli, and the schoolgirls are probably some Love Live thing I don't know but I saw lots of them roaming in squads around the con)   
> The beach is loosely based on Point Mugu but that's pretty far from LA so hm


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daichi raised his eyebrows at him.  
> Suga smirked.  
> "Whatever you're planning, it's a bad idea." Daichi said, trying to step away from Suga, but suddenly Suga's arms were around his waist and he was pushing Daichi towards the edge of the cliff. "Suga, don't-!" Daichi got out, before they were both plummeting off the cliff's edge, towards some very unpleasant looking rocks at the bottom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's time for fluff BC fluff is the good shit but we all know the good die young

Daichi was very, very nervous to let Suga fly. But Suga was an adult, and Daichi didn't control him. There was no "let" here, Suga would fly if he wanted. And he wanted. And he wanted Daichi to come. So Daichi was going to do everything he could to make that happen.   
Which was how he found himself walking into a rental car agency and anxiously asking the nice girl behind the counter what he needed to provide to rent a car. When she cheerfully told him all he needed was to be 25 or older and have a drivers license, he was surprised. He'd never needed a car before, but he had thought it would have been harder. He showed up that night at Ikejiri's apartment with a shiny little car, armed and ready to drive Suga to the beach Ikejiri had recommended to him.  
*  
Suga stood on the edge of the cliff, hair blowing all around his head, absolutely radiant in the sunlight. These were moments when Daichi was reminded that Suga really was an angel, the sun behind him making him glow, a perfect picture against the ocean.  
"This is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen!" Suga called, and Daichi was inclined to agree. Suga was, and would always be, the most beautiful thing Daichi had the privilege to see. He smiled at Suga, watching him prance back to the car and smiling into his kiss.

It seemed like he blinked and Suga was running towards the edge of the rock and leaping off into empty air, too fast for Daichi to even protest. 

And then he was up.

At first glance, it seemed like something wrong. He was beating his wings somewhat erratically, turning and adjusting. Daichi jumped down from the rock as fast as he could, ready to catch Suga should something happen. But then he turned a semicircle, facing the wind, and he was flying. Daichi couldn't stop himself from whooping, punching the air with a fist as Suga twirled and looped in the sky above him. He could hear Suga laughing, bright and free. Daichi wiped at his face, and found that he was crying. Suga swooped low, flapping a few times as he landed, and ran to Daichi. He was crying too. Daichi grabbed him around the waist as he ran and jumped, spinning Suga around in a circle.  
"You did it, babe! You really did it!"  
Suga put his feet down and wiped the tears off of Daichi's face with his thumbs, kissing each cheek.  
"Why are you crying?" He asked sniffling through his own tears.  
"Because I love you, and I'm so happy, and you're so amazing, and I love you."  
"You said I love you twice." Suga said, kissing Daichi's cheeks again and laughing.  
"Because I love you times two" Daichi laughed, holding Suga around the waist and trying to intercept a kiss. Suga giggled, trying to get a kiss onto Daichi's cheek.  
"I'm gonna do it again!" Suga said, giving up on the game in an instant and shaking himself free of Daichi's hands, sprinting towards the edge of the cliff, flapping the whole way. He launched off the edge, doing a barrel roll with his wings closed tight before tilting downwards and plummeting out of view. Daichi gasped, heart suddenly in his throat, and took three steps towards the cliff's edge before Suga reappeared, swooping upwards, an angel silhouetted by the sun. He looped around, beating his wings as he ascended, seeming to get the hang of going up. Daichi watched him from the ground, emotion swelling in his chest.

After a few minutes, Suga landed near Daichi, chest heaving. "This is way harder than just gliding!" Suga panted, hands on his knees, grinning up at him.  
"I wouldn't doubt it," Daichi replied, smiling at him. "Do you wanna sit?" Suga shook his head.  
"I wanna catch my breath, and then I wanna see if I can go straight up."  
"I don't think you can go straight anything." Daichi teased. Suga laughed loudly, wind stealing the sound and throwing it to the sky.

He stood there, in the biggest empty space there was, facing the ocean. Daichi watched him from a few feet back.  
His wings were truly something to behold, when open all the way. Probably about 12 feet across when fully spread, almost silvery in their shine. Daichi blinked back tears again. He didn't want to miss it.

Suga flapped a few times, tilting a little one way and then the other, testing the air. Then he bent his knees, raised his wings, and sprang upwards while sweeping his wings downwards. He kept beating his wings, knees bent up under him, raising up off the ground until he was well above Daichi's head. Then he closed his wings and let himself drop, pliéing all the way down to a squat. He held still for a moment, one hand on the ground, and Daichi rushed forward, worried. Had he hurt himself? What was wrong?  
But Suga raised his head, turning around while almost hopping to his feet, and practically launched into Daichi's arms. Daichi caught him but stumbled back a little, laughing. "Suga!" He chided, laughing, "you have to warn me when you're going to do stuff like that!" Suga laughed with him, arms warm around Daichi's neck.  
"It's fine! If you fall I'll catch us both!" He said, elation in his voice.  
"I don't think you can lift me, babe." Daichi reasoned, smiling at Suga's excitement.  
"Oh, no?" Suga asked, arching an eyebrow.  
"Suga, I'm 200 pounds of muscle, and I'm taller than you." Daichi raised his eyebrows at him.  
Suga smirked.  
"Whatever you're planning, it's a bad idea." Daichi said, trying to step away from Suga, but suddenly Suga's arms were around his waist and he was pushing Daichi towards the edge of the cliff. "Suga, don't-!" Daichi got out, before they were both plummeting off the cliff's edge, towards some very unpleasant looking rocks at the bottom. Daichi didn't have time to think, he just wrapped his arms around Suga's neck to hold on.

Suga opened his wings and suddenly they were suspended, not falling but hanging in the air. Suga flapped harder than before, but leaned forward to yell "plié the landing!" into Daichi's ear. They descended, faster than Suga usually did, but slow enough that Daichi could open his eyes and look around. The sun was coming close to setting, and the clouds were staining the sky orange and pink as it went down. The ocean shone, reflecting the sky's hues. Daichi turned to Suga; they were almost nose to nose, but Daichi could see the sparkle in Suga's eyes from here.  
They hit the sand, pliéing the landing together and bumping knees. Suga let go of Daichi's waist, holding his elbows as Daichi pulled his hands back to leave them on Suga's cheeks.   
"Suga, I love you, but never do that again." Daichi stared into his eyes, very serious until Suga started laughing. He broke, and the two of them laughed, foreheads pressed together, for a while.   
"Someday I'll be strong and I'll fly both of us everywhere." Suga insisted when they had caught their breath. Daichi scoffed a little bit, kissing Suga lightly. "Okay, honey, I believe you." He said, booping Suga's nose with his own nose before stepping back. "Now are we going to look at the tide pools before the sun goes down or what?"  
Suga gazed at him with huge eyes, question on his face obvious. The phrase doe-eyed was probably dedicated to Suga specifically, Daichi thought fleetingly. Then he grabbed Suga's hand and dragged him across the sand, Suga skipping to keep up. As they walked, Suga would hop, flapping a few times to stay up, then close his wings to avoid hitting Daichi and fall back to the ground, walking a few more steps before doing it again. Daichi lifted his arm and lowered it as his pogo stick of a boyfriend went up and down, laughing the whole time. Before they knew it, they'd arrived at the tide pools. Daichi stared at the waves for a minute, guessing they had about 20 minutes before the tide started to come in.  
"Okay, now, don't step on anything alive, alright?" Daichi asked, smiling at the look of shock that came over Suga's face.  
"Alive?" He repeated back.  
"Yeah! I'll explain while we walk." Daichi said, pointing out towards the rocks. "Let's go!"  
Suga followed him onto the rocks, staring intently between his own feet and Daichi's, following them as well as he could.

"Here, out here. Look." Daichi took Suga's hand and helped him over to a good pool, crouching and pointing to the water.  
"See those round things with the little tentacle things? Those are anemones. Try touching the tentacles a little bit." Suga stared at it, then him, then back at it. He dipped his fingers into the water and poked at it a little, gasping and yanking his hand out of the water when it started to close in on itself.  
"It's a defense mechanism, it won't hurt you, don't worry." Daichi smiled as Suga stared at the anemone, holding his wet hand out of the water gingerly. "Do you see anything else in there?"  
Suga gasped suddenly, pointing at the tiny crabs scuttling around at the bottom.  
"Yep!" Daichi grinned. "They'll pinch you if they're big enough, but those little guys can't get you. Don't touch them, though, it'll stress them out."  
Suga didn't move, staring down at the little pool, until a wave came by and filled the pool, splashing into their faces. He yelped and shot up into the air, jumping up to hover carefully above the water.  
"Sorry, I forgot to warn you. The waves still exist out here." Daichi tried not to laugh, stepping back from the pool to give Suga room to uncurl his legs and land gently on a rock. They kept walking, farther out to where the pools were deeper and had more animals.  
"How did they get here?" Suga asked, the first words he'd spoken since they came out onto the rocks, wide eyes trained on the sea urchin he had just found.  
"Well, the waves brought them in, with the water, but it got trapped in here. So they live here!" Daichi explained. He only had a basic grasp of tide pools, but he knew the general concept.  
"Do they want to get out?" Suga looked suddenly concerned, turning his eyes up to Daichi's.  
"I don't think so, dear. They get a lot of sun here, so they like it." Daichi smiled at Suga, his heart warm.  
"I like it too!" Suga beamed, and Daichi felt a pang of sadness. He liked it too, but they couldn't stay. "Oh, don't look so sad, I know we can't stay here. I'm not a child, even when I act like one." Suga was still smiling. Daichi felt a little better.  
The moment was broken by another wave coming in, soaking Daichi up to his knees. He cursed while Suga laughed, hovering a little above him again.  
"Get down here and get attacked by waves with me you coward!" Daichi shook his fist at the sky, mock serious.  
"You'll never take me alive, old man!" Suga laughed, flapping around his head and touching down a few rocks away. "Okay, if I wasn't so tired, I'd be miles away, but I guess I could walk with you." He pranced forward, light on his feet, and grabbed Daichi's hand. Daichi wasn't sure if he would ever get over the spike in his heart rate when Suga did that. 

They looked into a few more tide pools, Suga crowing loudly over the starfish that he found, as they made their way out.   
"Why are the waves closer now than before?" Suga asked as they walked back to where they started.   
"Well, the tide is up." Daichi replied, before remembering that he should probably explain that too. "The moon makes the ocean come in and out, because of... Gravity and stuff." Suga nodded, looking thoughtful, staring at the waves that lapped at his bare feet. He had taken his shoes off after they got off the rocks, and had ran in circles in the sand. "This is better than sandbox sand!" He had called, while Daichi rolled up his wet pant legs. 

When they got to the stairs that would take them back up to the top of the cliff, Suga opened his wings and stared up, dubious expression on his face.   
"Do you think you can do it?" Daichi asked, worried.  
"I think so..." His wings twitched a little, and he took a few steps back. Then he took three running steps and launched upwards, stumbling only a little from the loose sand. Daichi watched him flap, laboriously, clearly struggling. Daichi immediately worried about him, hands coming to his face unbidden, but then Suga was surging upwards and clearing the top of the cliff until Daichi couldn't see him anymore. He took the steps a few at a time, coming over the top to see Suga perched on top of the car, pink in the face but grinning.  
"I did it!" He announced, as if Daichi hadn't seen him.  
"I know, and I'm very impressed." Daichi walked up to the car, standing on his toes to kiss Suga, who grinned again.

Suga stared out at the sky, eyes alight with the colors of the setting sun. Daichi reached for his hand, and Suga jumped off the car, gliding a little to land softly. They climbed the boulder together, then sat in silence to watch the sun go down over the ocean. Suga leaned his head onto Daichi's shoulder, and Daichi wrapped an arm around his waist. He felt something warm wrap around him and looked down to see one of Suga's wings around his shoulder, keeping him just a tad warmer than he was before.  
The sun set slowly, staining the sky thousands of colors that reflected off both the ocean and Suga's hair. Daichi found himself looking at the latter more often than the sky itself, but he'd never admit it.

When Suga started to shiver slightly, Daichi realized it would probably be best for them to leave. He didn't often get cold, but Suga was one of those always-cold people, so he had to pay attention to know when it was time to go.  
"Do you want to leave?" He asked, breaking the silence.  
"Not really." Suga replied.  
"You're cold." Daichi stated, not asking.  
Suga didn't reply, just shrugged a little. Daichi felt his wing move, feathers rustling against his shoulder.  
"Come on, let's go." Daichi said, pulling a little on Suga's waist. Suga grumbled into Daichi's shoulder, but stood up to climb back down. He must have really been tired, Daichi thought, to not want to jump off. Daichi got to the bottom first and scooped Suga off the rock, carrying him bridal-style to the car, then depositing him gently in the passenger side. Suga giggled the entire way, arms wrapped around Daichi's neck.

Suga fell asleep on the drive home, leaned against the window he had been staring out. Daichi drove as carefully as he could, trying not to wake him. It was slow and uneventful, and they pulled into Ikejiri's apartment complex after not too long, Suga trailing behind Daichi like a tired kitten as they walked up to the door.

"How was it!" Ikejiri asked, excited, from the kitchen. He was elbows deep in soapy water, washing dishes from something that had clearly been a project.  
"It was fun" Suga yawned, a little bleary-eyed still.   
"He really got the hang of it fast," Daichi elaborated, "and you were right, there was nobody there. He practiced while I panicked, as per usual." Ikejiri laughed.  
"Well, don't go to bed yet, I made dinner, and a cake for you, Suga." Suga gasped.  
"Cake?!" He asked, suddenly more alert. Ikejiri laughed again, and Daichi joined in.  
"Yes, cake. As a congratulations!" Ikejiri smiled, and Daichi wanted to cry. His two best friends in the whole world, being friends with each other. Suga was prancing to the bathroom to wash up, and Ikejiri was turning back to his dishes. Daichi clapped a hand on Ikejiri's shoulder, managing a "you didn't have to do that," throat tight.  
"I know I didn't, but I wanted to. I'm happy for him, he loves cake, what did I have to lose?" Daichi just nodded, blinking hard. He squeezed Ikejiri's shoulder and followed Suga to the bathroom to wash his hands for dinner too.  
*  
Suga had never complained about being sore more than the day after his first flight, but with frequent practice (in deserted areas, in the dead of night, with Daichi running surveillance to make sure they wouldn't be caught,) he got more and more used to it.  
It was a week before Daichi decided to talk to Suga about plans. He sat down on the couch next to Suga, who was turned sideways to hang his wings over the arm of the couch. Suga was writing, typing intently, but still put his legs over Daichi's.  
They sat in silence for a moment, Daichi not wanting to break Suga's concentration, and then Suga peered over his tablet, asking "what's our plan, Daichi? When do we get out of here?"  
Daichi blinked.  
"That's what I was about to ask you," he replied truthfully. "I don't know what we should do, or when we should go. Or even how to go about it."  
Suga hummed thoughtfully.  
"Depends on where you want to go, I guess. Do you want to stay here? I don't really care, either way, but I need to leave this apartment and I'm not safe on the streets here yet."  
Daichi nodded. He knew that much. "We probably couldn't stay in LA, that's for sure. It's too big, too crowded. I have family in Japan, we could live with them until we figure out what to do?" Suga was staring out into thin air, his tablet abandoned on his chest.  
"And my family is likely in France. Probably easiest on you to go back to Japan, you don't speak much French."  
"I don't speak any French, Suga." Daichi laughed.  
"None counts as not much!" Suga protested.  
"But yes, Japan is probably easier. We just need to-" Daichi sighed, "-I don't know, find a way to get there, I suppose." Suga was nodding again.  
"I don't have a social security number. Or at least, not one that I have." Suga thought for a moment. "Or a drivers license. Or any kind of identifying information, really. I know... My name. And my birthday."  
Daichi was realizing how dangerous that was. If the directors had that information, it was useable to find him, file missing persons reports, all that jazz. But the police weren't knocking down their door, so... It was quite possible that Suga didn't exist, as far as the United States was concerned.

"We can't fly out of the states, then. In a plane, I mean." Daichi corrected before Suga could start to protest.  
"So we fly out of Canada. Later. When we can." Suga said, confident. "I'll get a job, a visa, whatever. And then we can leave. From there."  
"How are you going to get from the states to Canada, Suga? We can't leave the country without you having papers." Daichi said, exasperated. He was so stressed about this, and here Suga was, pretending it was no big deal.  
"We drive as far as we can, I get out of the car, you legally cross the border, and I come down as soon as you're in." Suga said, calmly.  
"We're going to try to smuggle you out?" Daichi asked, almost incredulous.  
"No, Dai, I'm going to FLY over the border, because I can fly, and the sky is the limit when nobody in their right mind would expect a half angel to try to fly over the border into Canada." Suga explained, patience boundless.  
"Oh. I never thought of that." Daichi said, the words falling out of his mouth before he could stop them.  
"I know, because you're in your right mind and would never expect a half angel to try to fly over the border into Canada. Like I said." Suga smirked, winking.  
Daichi had to admit, it was a good idea. Canada accepted refugees at a much higher rate, they could just... Go. And live there. Until they could get what they needed to get out. It made sense.  
"I know it does, I thought of it myself." Suga grinned, proud of himself.  
"I said that out loud, didn't I?" Daichi groaned.  
"Yessir you did. But at least you admitted it!" Suga teased.  
"Fine. I guess it works. We'll... We'll work out finer details later. And tell Ikejiri."

"Tell me what?" Ikejiri poked his head out of his bedroom, curious.  
"Or we'll tell him now." Daichi rolled his eyes, but he couldn't stop himself from smiling. He liked living with Ikejiri, if he was honest with himself.  
"We're planning our escape, and Daichi forgot that me being able to fly means that I can fly." Suga chirped. Ikejiri laughed loudly while Daichi smacked Suga's leg softly. "Rude!"  
"He does that. Forgets the most obvious things." Ikejiri said, coming out of his room and perching on the couch arm across from Suga.  
"Not you too!" Daichi groaned, leaning his head back over the couch. The two laughed, then Suga retracted his legs and stood up.  
"I'm gonna make dinner."  
"I'll help!" Ikejiri hopped off as well.  
"I guess I'll just sit here and do nothing," Daichi called after them.  
"Do some research or whatever," Suga called back over his shoulder. "Because I don't want to." Ikejiri laughed, but Daichi just grabbed Suga's tablet and got the ancient google app up and running. No point in wasting time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to message a friend like "hey do you think it's reasonable for a person who didn't grow up on the coast to not know what tide pools are"  
> They said yes 


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "If it's any consolation, it'll get a little cooler the farther north we go." Daichi offered, looking hopefully at Suga. He sighed.  
> "I know. I'm just... Cooped up. It's fine." Suga squeezed Daichi's hand, then leaning back uncomfortably into the seat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *sings* On the road againnnn

Suga had never been sore like he was the day after he flew for the first time. He learned about a lot of muscles he didn't know he had, because they were screaming in protest. He also learned that Daichi had absolutely no concept of what sore meant, which shouldn't have surprised him as much as it did. "I heal within minutes, Suga, why would I be sore the next day?" Daichi had pointed out, and Suga had pouted almost all day. Daichi had gotten back on his good side by dragging him into a hot shower and massaging his very, very angry shoulder muscles.   
And so he found himself practicing in the night, flying and looping, more strength training than anything, at a tiny abandoned playground behind an elementary school near Ikejiri's apartment. He had fought with Daichi over even that, but had won in the end. They walked to the playground, Suga flew, and Daichi kept an eye out to make sure nobody showed up. It worked out well. 

Suga had been considering their options for a while. It seemed unrealistic to try to get to Japan, or off the continent at all, if he couldn't fly himself or take a plane. So he googled countries, searched for immigration laws, stared at maps until his eyes burned, and calculated costs for days before finally bringing it up to Daichi.   
He knew Daichi had busy days, and was working hard to get money to support them while Suga couldn't, so he didn't want to stress him out more when he came home. But sometimes there are things that need to be said, and so Suga peeked over his tablet at Daichi while they were sitting together on the couch to ask him what his plans were, or if he had any.   
It was a relief to find out that no, Daichi had no plans, really. 

Canada it was, then. 

Prepping was easy enough. They had almost nothing to their names, really, so they just shoved what clothes they had back into the backpacks they had escaped with, Suga carefully tucking his tablet and charger in between his clothes so they wouldn't get damaged. They would need to get another rental car, which would be expensive, or take a train, which would be dangerous, and train won out, because being homeless in Canada isn't any better than being homeless in LA. 

Saying goodbye to Ikejiri was hard. Not as hard as leaving the circus, his home, his family, the only thing he'd ever known, but Suga had gotten used to having Ikejiri around to keep him company when Daichi worked late, and their animated conversations that Daichi seemed more interested in watching than partaking in. They had become fast friends, and Ikejiri made Suga promise to email him his writing every so often. Suga had promised, crying silently, before climbing on the train after Daichi.   
*  
"I feel ridiculous" Suga grumbled, sweating in the huge bulky coat that Daichi had gotten him. "It's summer, everyone is staring."  
"It's the only thing that covers you up, I'm sorry." Daichi looked remorseful, but he offered no alternate solution. There really wasn't one, Suga knew, but it was hot and he was feeling very trapped in the train. He itched to stretch his wings, which was not exactly possible. They still had several hours until they got to Oregon, where they would stay the night before setting out again. Taking the train from LA to Seattle was a 28 hour ordeal, and they weren't even halfway through it.  
"If it's any consolation, it'll get a little cooler the farther north we go." Daichi offered, looking hopefully at Suga. He sighed.  
"I know. I'm just... Cooped up. It's fine." Suga squeezed Daichi's hand, then leaning back uncomfortably into the seat. His wings were tucked around him awkwardly so they wouldn't stick up over his shoulders and he wouldn't sit on them, and it was making the ride more painful than it needed to be. He went back to staring out the window, Daichi's hand warm in his.  
*  
Suga hadn't stretched since they left the hotel room, so when they arrived in Seattle and finally got off the train, he was all too eager to run straight into the woods to shake out his feathers.  
Which, unfortunately, was not really going to happen.

They trudged through the streets, following Daichi's phone as it led them to another car rental agency. They'd drive almost all the way to the border, then Suga would jump out and make his own way over while Daichi dealt with entering the country in a legal sort of manner. The old man behind the counter gave Daichi the keys and Suga a dirty look as they left, which Suga spluttered about indignantly as they got in the car.  
"I just don't know what I did to deserve that!" He protested to Daichi, peeking over his shoulder to stare at him as they drove away.  
"Suga, you've... You've never really been... You've never really had access to people before, right, so you wouldn't... I don't know." Daichi hedged, and Suga turned to him, impatient.  
"Spit it out, Dai. What did I do wrong?"  
"Well, the way you look and act, and being with me, just us getting a car together, he probably... Well he'd be right, I guess, but..." Daichi paused, taking a breath. "You look really gay, Suga, and people are still against that for whatever goddamn reason, so that's probably what... That was."

Suga gaped at him.

"You didn't do anything wrong, is what I mean. People are just assholes about that still." Daichi continued, gesturing. He glanced over to see Suga still staring at him, mouth open.  
"Are you serious?" Suga finally asked. "It's because I look GAY?"  
"Well..." Daichi said awkwardly, backtracking. "Maybe? I don't... I don't know what else,.. I mean, not that you look bad, it's just..."  
"Jesus Christ almighty!" Suga said, louder than he expected. Daichi flinched a tiny bit. "I thought we were past that shit! Why does it matter to this random guy if I HAPPEN to love a man and not a woman. He's not involved! It doesn't affect him! Jesus. Wow. That's messed up." He shut his mouth, hard, and stared out the window. Daichi didn't say anything else, just slowly put a hand on Suga's knee. Suga didn't break his gaze, but put his hand over Daichi's silently.

They drove in silence for a while, Suga staring out the window at the trees whooshing past. At some point, Daichi turned on the radio, and Suga couldn't contain himself with top 40s music playing. He and Daichi jammed out, Suga singing along at the top of his lungs while Daichi laughed and shimmied his shoulders a little to the music. The drive passed much faster after that, and it felt like only moments had passed before they were at their agreed point in the highway. They only had to sidetrack a little to get to a sufficiently wooded area, and Daichi pulled over slowly.

There was only a mile or so between them and the border, and Suga hopped out of the car, leaving his backpack and jacket on the seat. He leaned in, kissing Daichi nervously.  
"I'll see you soon?" He said, trying to keep the uncertainty out of his voice.  
"Just a few hours. You come down as soon as you get to the trees, and stay out of sight until you hear me coming. I'll call you as soon as I'm through." Suga nodded. They'd been through this a thousand times, it felt like, but he was still scared.  
"And you're sure they'll let you through?" Suga said, the same question he'd asked over and over in the days leading up to their departure.  
"Absolutely." Daichi sounded sure, steady and secure. He was always Suga's stability. Suga choked up a little, but just kissed Daichi again.   
"See you soon." He repeated, and this time it sounded more like a statement than a question. "I love you."  
"I love you too, Suga. Fly safe." Daichi squeezed Suga's hand and he backed out of the car, closing the door and letting Daichi drive off.

Alone in the woods was a strange way to be. Suga had never felt this kind of freedom, had never been this kind of alone. There had always been people around, security watching him, friends on the other side of the trees. But now he was truly, simply, alone.  
He took a deep breath of the fresh outside air and started walking. He needed a clear place to depart from, the higher the better. Less flying up meant more gliding down, and that would conserve his energy a lot.

Top of a tree would work.

So Suga hopped his way up into the tallest tree he could see, swinging up and around the branches until he was almost in the crown of the tree. There were a lot of branches up here, and he couldn't get a good hold on them, for fear of falling. They were weak, and wings were heavy; regardless of how light Suga's bones were, he weighed about as much as an average person.

Okay, top of a tree wouldn't work.

He dropped down, curled into a ball until he landed, wings just catching him. He wandered a little more, starting to get a little nervous. Just as he was considering calling Daichi, he saw a small hill that opened up at the top into a nice open space that was probably frequented for picnics. It felt like it was too easy, but Suga didn't want to question it. He skipped over, prancing a little through the leaves. Being outside was such a good feeling.  
A few steps from the top of the hill, Suga stopped. He took a breath. This would probably be the last time he set foot in the United States in a while. At least until they came back for the rest of his friends. He would miss them, he knew that much, but he was excited to see the rest of the world. His heart beat a little faster, but nothing could stop him now.

He took the last three steps at a run, flapping hard, and launched himself up into the air, straining to lift. He had practiced, but fifteen years of gliding doesn't do much for one's wing muscles. This wasn't going to be an easy journey.  
He circled upwards, catching warm updrafts where he could, until he felt like he was high enough. The road was tiny now, just a line drawn across the land, and the trees looked more like broccoli than anything. He could feel the air getting thinner, just a little, and it was chillier up here. This was bird territory, he would be visible but not noticeable. They had practiced this, too. Exactly the right height that he could maintain it easily, but not be spotted.   
So Suga gazed out, towards the border, and tilted his wings forward to coast a little, not quite with the wind but not quite against it, either. If his short flights from the cliff had been sprints, this was a marathon.

The wind wasn't against him, and he kept finding little puffs of warm air that raised him up, so most of the struggle fell into keeping his wings stiff enough to keep him going the right direction as he watched the tiny trees whiz past underneath him. The mile passed quickly, and he could see the border coming up. There were cars backed up for a while, but he was up too high to be able to tell which was Daichi's. He flapped a little higher, feeling his muscles strain and shake as he willed them to hold out just a little longer.  
There was no invisible barrier, no force field keeping him out. He glided over into Canada with no fuss, no voices yelling at him to stop right there, no gunshots. He was just... Here one second, there the next. It was almost anticlimactic.

Once he felt he was sufficiently far past the border, he started to let himself descend. There would be no reason for anyone to be out here, they had figured, so he had no reason to worry about people running into him. He aimed for a gap in the trees, swooping down as he felt his wings protest. He would be miserable tomorrow, he was sure of it, but free. It was a fair trade.

He landed harder than expected, taking the brunt of it in his knees and collapsing forward. He climbed to his feet, brushing the dirt off his knees, and started off in the direction he thought the highway was in. It wasn't too long until he started to hear cars go past, so he walked parallel to the highway until he found a place that Daichi could reasonably pull over in. Then he pulled up a nice patch of dirt and settled down, leaning on a tree. The pressure between his wings felt nice, so he let his mind wander while he waited.  
*  
An hour passed.  
*  
Another hour passed.  
*  
Suga was starting to really panic. He had seen a lot of cars pass, from his hiding place in the trees, but they went too fast for him to see if they were Daichi, and he hadn't gotten a call yet. He wanted to call first, to see if Daichi would answer, but he didn't want to start any problems. He crossed and uncrossed his legs, nervously fidgeting, but nothing happened, and he didn't feel much better.  
He hopped to his feet, wings beating down to lift him to a stand. He would never get used to how easy that was these days, he thought. It was a vast difference from before.  
He paced, staring at the phone in his hand. He almost wanted to walk towards the border, but thought better of it. It was stressful, this whole situation. It was getting dark. He was worried something had happened, Daichi had been turned away, or detained, or something like that, Suga wasn't sure. What did border patrol do?

Just as he was considering going back to his clearing and flying up to search for Daichi, the phone buzzed. He answered it, panic rising.  
"Suga? Can you hear me?" Daichi's voice came in, tinny and hard to understand, but still Daichi's.  
"Yes! I can! Where are you?" Suga said, trying not to let his nerves come through the phone.  
"I'm on my way! I'm so sorry I didn't call earlier, we were sitting there for a long time, and there wasn't any service. No need to worry, okay?" Daichi's voice was soothing, even though he was clearly shouting, and Suga felt relief flood through him just hearing it.  
"Oh thank god." He sighed. "I'm hiding by a thing next to the road that you could drive on. Shoulder?"  
"Yeah, a shoulder. I'll pull over in all of them, you tell me if you're there." Daichi's voice was getting stronger, like he was coming out of a tunnel. "I'm gonna hang up so I can drive, but I'll be there soon, I promise."  
"Okay." Suga breathed, still clutching the phone with both hands.  
"I love you!" Daichi said, smile audible in his voice.  
"I love you too." Suga replied, starting to smile as well. The line clicked, and Suga was left alone again.  
But not for long. Daichi pulled over not long after, and Suga ran out of the trees with a happy whoop.  
"You're here!" He trilled, opening the passenger door and climbing in. He kissed Daichi happily, and Daichi smiled at him.  
"I said I would be." He replied, dependable as always. "Now let's go find the hostel and relax. I'm exhausted."  
Suga couldn't agree more.  
*  
It was very late by the time they got to the hostel. They didn't have time to worry about people seeing Suga's wings, and at that point, they didn't care. Daichi would take the rental car back in the morning, he said, so they just drove all the way there.  
In the weeks that Daichi had been working, he'd made a fair amount of money, so it wasn't worrisome to stay in hostels for a while, but they needed a long term solution. Which they didn't have. But Suga was too tired to stress about it.  
They climbed into bed and Suga barely had time to snuggle up to Daichi before he was out.  
*  
Days passed, and they spent their time wandering the streets around the hostel. With no car, and no place to stay, they were very limited in their options. Daichi looked for work, doing odd jobs and running errands. Suga had spent the first few days being nervous about being stared at, but as they walked past a craft store, he grabbed Daichi's arm.  
"Can we go in here?" He asked, tugging lightly at Daichi's sleeve. Daichi shrugged. "Sure, babe."  
Suga skipped through the door, Daichi following after him. They walked through the aisles until Suga found what he was looking for.

"Aha!" He said, pulling a packet of elastic out of the display. "I need this!"  
Daichi looked at him skeptically, but followed him to the cashier to buy it.  
As they walked out, Suga stopped and sat down on the ground outside, pulling the packaging off the elastic and pulling Daichi's pant leg.  
"Hey can I use your knife?" He asked, staring up at him. Daichi looked bemused, but pulled it out of his pocket.  
"Thanks!" Suga said, unravelling a length of elastic and cutting it. He was vaguely aware of Daichi watching him from where he was leaned against the building, but ignored him. He cut two pieces with about the same length and passed them over his shoulders, around the end of his wings where they blended into his back. Then he tied a bow in the front of each one, admiring his handiwork in the glass shop front.

"Tadaaa!" He announced, turning to Daichi, who looked confused.  
"Why?" Daichi asked.  
"Because!" Suga replied, chest puffed out in pride, "it looks like a costume now!" He had seen costume wings, and they all seemed to loop around the front of your shoulders to hold them on.  
The light went on behind Daichi's eyes.  
"Oh!" He said, suddenly understanding. "Suga, that's brilliant!"  
Suga glowed. He grabbed Daichi's hand and skipped as they started to walk again. This wasn't so bad. He could get used to this life.  
*  
Suga sat at a table outside of a coffee shop, logged in to their wifi, and stared at his tablet. He had his story now, written out into nice chapters that reflected his life. Breathing deeply, he clicked on the blogging website and pasted his first chapter into the text box. Nobody was gonna read this, he told himself, pressing the post button. Daichi had helped him set it up and had encouraged him to post them. "It's good, Suga! People would be interested in reading your story!"  
Suga was skeptical, but had agreed to post it anyway. He had to kill time until Daichi got back from whatever odd job he was working now. Suga felt useless. He set the chapters up to post automatically, twice a week, and stared out blankly. His mind wandered. He was still trying to think of something he could do to help, but he was fairly useless. All he could do was fly.

Wait.

He could fly!

He jumped to his feet, then realized he had nowhere to run off to. He sat back down awkwardly. Some preteen girls stared at him from a table over. He smiled awkwardly at them, and they dissolved into giggles. He turned back to his tablet, blushing. It was a good idea, though, if not a little stolen from Kiki's Delivery Service. He had loved that movie as a kid, always a little jealous of Kiki being able to fly whenever she wanted, but now that he could, why not start a delivery service?

When Daichi returned, hours later, Suga sprang to his feet. Prancing over and jumping into his arms, he hugged him excitedly.  
"Guess what I did today!" He chirped, staring into Daichi's tired eyes.   
"Can I guess while sitting down?" Daichi teased, loosening his arms and depositing Suga on his feet.   
"Fine, I guess! Just hurry!" Suga replied, dancing back to his seat, pulling Daichi by his hand. Suga sat down cross legged on his chair, leaning forward excitedly as Daichi sat down and took a drink of the water cup that had been sitting in front of Suga for hours, untouched.  
"Guess, guess!" Suga said, impatient.  
"You...... Posted in your blog?" Daichi said, smiling.  
"Oh. Well, yeah, I did that." Suga remembered suddenly. Daichi grinned. "But I made this!!" Suga shook off the surprise, not ready to be distracted from his task. He turned his tablet around, shoving it in Daichi's face. Daichi took it from his hands, holding it at a more reasonable distance from his face. Suga watched him nervously as he stared at it.  
"Suga, is this for you?" Daichi said, smiling as he looked up.  
"Yeah!" Suga replied, suddenly afraid of rejection. "So I can help people out, and help make money, so maybe we can stop..." He gestured vaguely towards the street, "This."  
Daichi's face broke out into a huge smile.  
"I think it's a great idea, Suga." Suga grinned, glowing with the praise.  
"I'll just get some printed out, and then I'll fly around and leave them places so people can see me. I think we're safe here, Dai. I can be like this."  
*  
And so they found themselves managing a smallish delivery service. It turned out Daichi was very good at computers, and Suga was absolutely not, so Daichi handled making a very basic app that people around the city put orders into. Suga would follow the map to their address, and then delivered the package, whatever it might be, to the intended recipient. It wasn't a booming business, but word got out amongst friends, so Suga found himself delivering a lot of dumb things, books and packs of gum and memes, printed out and folded up. He liked it best when he got to deliver flowers of cakes, a romantic at heart, but ended up making friends with a lot of the regulars and their memes.

Nobody asked uncomfortable questions about his wings, really, but eventually he let slip that he had a blog, and then he was pestered about to death for the URL until he finally gave it to one of them. It spread amongst them, then out into the real world. Suddenly, he was receiving thousands of messages from people all over the world, offering their homes as places for the two to stay, speaking out against the circus, expressing concern or doubt or support. Donations poured in, to Suga's shock, from all around the globe. People loved them, loved their story, wanted to help them get back home. They were shaken. All his life, Suga had been hiding, and Daichi had been pretending to live a normal life. Now they were being praised for living openly, and it was shocking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My roommates were all "why are you looking at train tickets to Washington" and I was all "don't worry about it"  
> I also spent many an hour scrolling around the Canadian border on google earth which was fun and exciting  
> You can't say I didn't do my research


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Suga looked livid, glowing from behind with the light of the moon, hair standing up in the wind. Daichi could see how angels were feared, seeing Suga in a rage. He stared, fear rising. His words left him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooooh boy drama time~ Who made mama Suga mad?

Daichi had never expected Suga's blog to get the response that it had gotten. People everywhere were sending help, donations, advice, offers for rides, couches to sleep on, and one person who messaged them privately to offer to make fake documentation for Suga. ("Any country, any name, doesn't matter," they had said, which Suga and Daichi had politely declined.)  
However, the fake passport offer had brought up a strong point. Suga was still something of a refugee, hiding in plain sight. Daichi was terrified that the directors would find them here, and that they would take Suga away from him. They needed to get out of the country as soon as they possibly could, whatever means necessary. Daichi figured that if they could get to France, they could find Suga's mother, or at least her family, and from there they could get his birth certificate and go to Japan. Legally, safely, like people do.

He was in touch with a few people who had offered their private planes for short flights if they needed them, and he figured they could go east across the country and then across the ocean to France. He knew they would need to be different flights, or at least separated into pieces, because planes don't fly that long unless they're commercial, but they could work it out with the few people who had offered up their help. It wouldn't be too tough, so he set about sending emails to coordinate.

Suga was still working his deliveries, and Daichi was mostly coordinating from the ground as Suga did the legwork. Or, in his case, wing work. Daichi worked odd jobs, dangerous things that people didn't want to do for fear of injury. They were both bringing in small amounts of money that way, but they were using most of it on the hostel and food. Occasionally they stayed at a friend's house, in exchange for a free delivery or help around the house. Suga became something of a local legend, and he glowed every time he was recognized or waved at by a child. Daichi, by extension, was recognized, but not as much. He liked it better that way, so he wasn't put out by it. The donations didn't slow, but they tried not to touch the money too much. In Japan, they would need to have a good sum saved to be able to live, and if they were going to leave soon, they needed to leave that money untouched.

Suga seemed not to mind their new life, but Daichi got more anxious about it by the day. Months had passed, summer was ending, and they needed to get out. Suga seemed concerned about something; he would take his tablet and hide away to stare at it, brow furrowed, but he didn't admit what it was he was looking at. Daichi didn't push him, and chalked it up to the same stress he was dealing with. His worried mounted, so he worked harder on coordinating with his pilot contacts, working out kinks so Suga wouldn't have to.

He breached the subject at night, while they sat at a small park. The children had left hours ago, but they had gotten used to hanging out at parks and it was something of a tradition for them. Sitting together in the chilly air, shoulder to shoulder, Daichi waited for a lull in the conversation.  
"Speaking of mothers," he started, "I was thinking about... Well... Our plans for right now."  
Suga looked at him, confused.  
"What do you mean, plans for right now?" He asked, tilting his head. "I didn't know we needed plans for tonight, I thought we were going to stay at the hostel again."  
Daichi smiled a little bit, shaking his head slightly.  
"No, I mean like... Well, like what we're going to do now. Long term. We can't stay here, Suga." Daichi explained himself, gesturing with his free hand.  
Suga squeezed his other hand.  
"Well, of course we can't. I've been doing some reading online, looking at what happened after we left. The circus is still running, but it's changed a little. Obviously. And I guess security is higher."  
Daichi nodded a little. It was clearly not safe for them to be anywhere near the states, no matter what.  
"But," Suga continued, "I'm not good with computers, so I need your help to coordinate this stuff! I can't seem to get in touch with anyone who can help. I was gonna try to do it without involving you, but now I'm wondering why the heck I was doing that." He laughed. "We're a team!" A huge grin spread across his face and he squeezed Daichi's hand again.  
"Well, actually, I saw you stressing, so I actually have been contacting people myself, while you were working. I think we have a pretty solid plan now." Daichi smiled a little, leaning in to Suga's shoulder a bit. He was pretty proud of his planning, if he was honest with himself.

Suga perked up, straightening where he sat.  
"Who did you talk to? Kenma? They're the best with tech, they have a phone, I just don't know how to find them!" Suga's eyes were bright, and he looked more hopeful than Daichi had seen him in a while. Daichi was confused.  
"Kenma?" He asked, tilting his head.  
"Yeah, I know they have a phone. They're probably our best bet at getting back in."  
Daichi gaped.  
"Getting... Back?"  
"Of course. To save everyone? What... What else?" Suga stared at Daichi, eyes huge, blinking in confusion.  
Daichi was speechless for a moment.  
"To get... Out of the country, Suga. To Japan. Going home."  
Daichi had never seen Suga deflate that quickly.  
"What... What do you mean? We can't leave yet, everyone is still there, we need to go back, Daichi. What do you mean? We can't go to Japan without everyone." Suga was backing away, staring at Daichi in what looked like disbelief. What did Suga had to be disbelieving about? He was the one saying crazy things. Of course they were leaving, they had to put their safety first.

"Suga, we can't go back. You've already said it, you were the most valuable to them, they'll never let you leave if they get you back. It's not safe, Suga. How could we go back?" He was shocked. He didn't have the time to worry about Suga's feelings. He needed him to understand.  
"Suga, your safety is priority. We can't afford to worry about them, we have to worry about us!"

Wrong answer.  
Suga leaped up, wings spreading in an arc as he turned to face Daichi, hovering in the air in front of him.  
"What do you mean we can't worry about them?" Suga fumed, eyes dark. "They sacrificed themselves for us, too. We don't even know if Kageyama is ALIVE, Dai. Kenma could be in serious trouble, too. They were accomplices to us, we wouldn't be out if it wasn't for them. That's my FAMILY, Sawamura Daichi. We aren't going to leave them behind." Daichi stared, unblinking. This was very far from how he had expected this talk to go.  
"It's not us and them, Daichi. They're part of me, we go together. And I'm not going anywhere until they're with me."

"Suga, we need to make a plan... We can't just... It would be incredibly stupid to just run back with-" Daichi tried to explain, but Suga cut him off.  
"There's nothing «incredibly stupid»" Suga repeated, with hugely exaggerated air quotes, "about family sticking together. My mother? She's not my family anymore. Noya and Asahi and Hinata and Kageyama and Yamaguchi and yes, even Tsukishima? They're my family. And there's no me without them." Suga looked livid, glowing from behind with the light of the moon, hair standing up in the wind. Daichi could see how angels were feared, seeing Suga in a rage. He stared, fear rising. His words left him. Suga seemed to grow in the moonlight, wings fluffing up as he bristled. All of a sudden, Suga shot upwards, beating down with his wings to send himself up and away. He wheeled around in the air, disappearing into the darkness faster than Daichi had ever seen him fly. 

Daichi inhaled sharply and realized he probably hadn't took a breath in a while. He blinked, his eyes stinging from the cold air. He might have been crying a little, eyes blurring over a tiny bit before he blinked the tears away. How could he have been so stupid? All this time he had thought Suga was worried over getting out, but he was... Suga was so selfless, so concerned about the well being of others. It shouldn't have come as any surprise that he was more worried about his friends than himself. Daichi felt like a goddamn idiot.

He sat there, just thinking, for a long time. Suga's safety was his priority, right? They were a team, and they needed to think about the good of the team. So Daichi had thought that keeping them together, and safe, was the best option. But Suga was unconcerned with his own safety. He would rather risk everything to get his family back. Daichi didn't understand why Suga was so fixated on them, or why he called them his family. It didn't make sense.

But Daichi didn't need to understand why. Suga had explained himself plenty of times. And now Daichi was realizing that it was fault of his own to not understand that sometimes, listening and understanding were different things. He hadn't been listening to Suga's concerns, and he needed to fix what he had done. They had promised to their friends that they would come back, hadn't they? And Suga had made himself clear.

Daichi had fucked up.

And now Suga was god knows where, vanished into the cold and the dark, and Daichi was alone. He was suddenly aware of the very real possibility that Suga would start flying back to America right now, in the cover of the dark. He jumped to his feet, taking the stairs down from the play place two at a time as he started to run. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, frantically pulling up Suga's contact and calling him as he ran.

It rang through to voicemail.

He dialed again, still running full tilt towards the hostel. Their bags were there, and he needed to take those if he was going to run after Suga. Busses weren't running this time of night, but he needed to find him. Daichi hadn't felt this kind of panic in a long time. He could feel tears on his face. He had thought that he was keeping Suga safe by planning this escape, trying to keep Suga with him, keep him protected. But Suga was his own person, and now Daichi didn't even know where he was, let alone if he wanted to stay with Daichi at all. 

He burst through the doors of the hostel, not even stopping at the desk as he ran for the stairs. No time to waste with elevators. He figured if he could get to the roof, he could see out far enough to maybe find which way Suga was going. With the moon as bright as it was, he would probably be easy enough to spot. 

When he threw the doors open at the top of the stairs, he was hit by a rush of cold air. It felt good on his burning face. He practically fell forward onto the railing, staring out into the night, breathing hard. 

He whipped around at the sound of someone sniffling behind him. 

Suga was sitting on the roof, head in his hands, knees pulled up to his chest. Daichi's heart seized. Suga peeked up at him, tear tracks visible in the low light. Daichi took a step towards him, hesitated, then hopped the small gate between the balcony and the roof to climb up to him. He sat down next to Suga, staring out over the city, unspeaking. Suga didn't move. Daichi scrubbed a hand across his face, wiping the tears away with his sleeve. Suga sniffled again, turning his face away from Daichi just a little. 

The silence between them lingered for another moment. 

"I thought I'd lost you." Daichi explained, clearing his throat to loosen some of the tightness that was holding his larynx with a death grip. Suga mumbled into his knees "I had half a mind to." Daichi's heart squeezed at the tone of his voice. "But I... Couldn't."   
"I'm glad you didn't." Daichi said, suddenly shy. He rested his chin on his knees, like Suga was, and looked over at him. Suga raised his head and stared up at the stars.   
"Daichi, I'm sorry I-" he started.   
"No, Suga." Daichi cut him off, rushing over his words. "You have nothing to be sorry for. I should have taken your feelings into account, I wasn't listening to you, I-"   
"You're not listening to me now, either." Suga pointed out, looking at him now. "Can I finish?"  
Daichi snapped his mouth shut. He blushed bright red, staring at his knees. 

"I'm sorry I freaked out and flew away, that was overdramatic and I shouldn't have done that. But we do need to communicate better. We're a team, Daichi. I know I've said this before, maybe too many times, but I love you, and we need to work this out." Daichi nodded. His cheeks burned with embarrassment. Suga was right, he hadn't been listening.   
"It's going to have to be a conscious effort, Dai, but we can handle it. We've dealt with a lot together, babe." Suga raised his chin with a finger, making Daichi look him in the eyes. "It's okay, Dai. Don't look at me like that." Suga leaned his shoulder into Daichi's.   
"Now, anyway, you were apologizing?" Suga teased a little, smiling weakly.   
Daichi blinked and more tears fell, but he ignored them.

"I'm sorry I didn't listen, Suga. I've never done this before, I've always been in charge of taking care of other people, and sometimes I forget that you're a person too. And there's no excuse for that. But I hear you now and I get it. We need to go back for them." Daichi said, words blurring together in his rush to get them out before he chickened out. Suga rested his head against Daichi's shoulder and nodded a little bit, Daichi could feel it against his shirt.   
"I'm going back for them regardless. But I'm glad you're... I wanted you to come. I need you to come. I don't want to go anywhere without you, Daichi. You have to understand that."   
Daichi nodded. He did. He knew that much.   
They sat in silence, Suga leaning on Daichi's shoulder, staring at the stars together. 

"I'm sorry, Suga. I love you." Daichi whispered.   
"I know you are. We'll both work, Dai. Because I love you too, and that's what people who love each other do." Suga whispered back, nuzzling in closer and tucking his arm through Daichi's.   
"Are you cold?" Daichi asked, suddenly remembering that he was jacketless in the night in Canada.   
"Is that even a question?" Suga mumbled into Daichi's shoulder.   
"Better question. Do you want to go inside?" Daichi rephrased, looking down at the top of Suga's head. It was still for a moment, then he nodded.   
"Then what are we waiting for?" Daichi laughed a little bit, pulling his arm out from Suga's and holding out a hand to help him up. Suga took it and climbed to his feet, wings still held tight to his body. That was a sure sign that he was cold, Daichi thought idly.   
"This." Suga said, stepping up to his toes to kiss Daichi, still holding his hand, bringing his other hand up to his face to stroke at his cheekbone. Daichi wrapped his arm around Suga's waist, holding him tightly. He loved his man, that was for sure. 

Then suddenly Suga was scooping his arms around Daichi's waist and clasping his hands, taking a step sideways off of the top of the roof and pulling Daichi with him, wings snapping open and flapping hard. Daichi yelped, grabbing Suga tighter with his other arm. "Plié the landing, Dai," Suga murmured into Daichi's ear, lowering them slowly to the balcony. Daichi's heart rate would probably never go back to normal, he thought, as they touched lightly down.   
"I'm getting better at that, hm?" Suga smirked, letting go of Daichi when they landed to look at him better. Daichi glowered at him.   
"I thought I told you never to do that again." He grumbled, still shaken.   
"It wasn't a cliff this time, though!" Suga blinked at him, smiling wide, feigning innocence.  
"You know what I meant, you..." Daichi lunged at Suga, who ducked out of the way, laughing.   
"You love meeeee!" Suga trilled, dancing backwards away from Daichi.   
"That's true, but you can still piss me off!" Daichi said, laughing. It was true. He followed Suga back down the stairs to where they were staying, pulling his pants and shoes off and climbing into bed after him. 

Nothing felt more right than Suga in his arms, nuzzled into his chest, Daichi's face pressed softly into his hair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boy you thought I was gonna let them fight? No in this house we communicate and make up immediately because I refuse to make them sad in relation to each other. My gays may be sad but not because they're gay no sir no way no how.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "We're leaving soon, I think."   
> "What?" She said, putting her phone in her pocket. "Where are you going?"   
> "I don't think I should say. I'll likely not be back, though. I'm sorry."   
> She frowned, but nodded. "I get it. Doesn't mean I like it, but friends support each other, right?" She smiled a little at the last part, and Suga smiled too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New characters? This late in the game? My bad.   
> It's the l a s t chapter !!! You made it!!

Daichi had said a lot of things, and so had Suga, but they were unshakeable. If anything, Suga felt like they had gotten closer overnight, suddenly understanding each other better. Daichi ran plans past Suga as he was making them, and Suga communicated his intentions with Daichi more readily. Neither or them had been in relationships like this before, they admitted to each other, and it was hard to adjust to, but they had to work on it together or not at all. 

Suga kept up his deliveries, flight getting easier and easier as he practiced. He was going longer stretches now, and getting less tired and sore. He mentioned one day to a regular that he was trying to get stronger at lifting not only himself but also flying with others, and she perked up immediately.   
"My son has been DYING to fly with you, but I didn't want to bother you with it. If you want to practice with someone small, you can definitely borrow him." She grinned, raising an eyebrow. Suga's face broke into a huge smile.   
"He'd like that??" He asked, excitement growing.   
"What little kid doesn't want to be able to fly?" She asked, opening her door behind her to walk back inside. "We've got grass in the backyard, if you want to practice out there. Any time is good with me."   
Suga glanced at his phone. "I have time before my next delivery..." He trailed off. What if right now wasn't a good time?   
"Come on in, then. I'll grab his jacket." She held the door open for him, then walked off as he looked around the house, standing awkwardly on the mat just inside the doorway. "Come all the way in, Suga, it's alright." He jolted a little, then toed off his shoes and picked them up to follow her to the back door. 

Her boy was only six, so he wasn't very big, but neither was she, he thought. They stood in the middle of the lawn, Suga suddenly nervous to pick up this child. He looked shy, staring at the floor and refusing to make eye contact with Suga. The mom gestured at him from a little ways away, smiling gently.   
He crouched down, saying "do you want to fly with me, Chris?" quietly.   
Chris nodded, stepping closer to him and looking at him finally, long eyelashes sweeping across his cheeks before his huge blue eyes met Suga's green ones. He reached his arms up, wrapping them around Suga's neck, and Suga put am arm around his shoulders and another under his legs, supporting him and standing up.   
"Alright, Christoph, we're gonna go up now, okay?" Suga smiled as one blue eye peeked out to look at him as he nodded a tiny bit. 

Suga opened his wings in a sweeping motion and bent his knees, beating down as he jumped, trying to keep the liftoff as gentle and smooth as he could. It was certainly harder with the boy in his arms, curled against his chest, but he could do it. He took a little loop around the backyard, letting Chris get used to the rocking motion of his wings beating, then touched back down, bending as much as he could without losing his balance to keep it smooth. He looked down at Chris, smiling at him as his face reemerged from his shoulder, eyes huge.   
"Not so bad, huh?" Suga asked. "We can do that again sometime, if you want."   
Chris tightened his arms around Suga's neck, nodding hard.   
"Do you want me to come back later?" He asked. Chris shook his head quickly, blinking at him.   
Suga was confused.   
"Now?" He asked, unsure. Chris nodded vigorously.   
"Oh! Okay. Okay, yeah." He said, bending to jump again, then taking to the sky. This time, Chris didn't hide his face, just stared down at his backyard as it got smaller and smaller. Suga was getting tired, but didn't want to disappoint this little boy, so he flew him in another circle around his yard, then let them dive quickly down. He felt Chris squeeze, but he caught them as they dropped, swooping upright, and landing softly.   
Chris's mom was clapping from the patio.   
"Beautiful!" She called. "You can take him any time you want to practice!" Suga looked down at Chris, not wanting to do anything he didn't want, but got a fast nod from the tiny boy, blond curls bouncing from it.   
"Alright, I'll come back tomorrow. We're..." He paused, unsure of if he should let her know or not. 

"We're leaving soon, I think."   
"What?" She said, putting her phone in her pocket. "Where are you going?"   
"I don't think I should say. I'll likely not be back, though. I'm sorry."   
She frowned, but nodded. "I get it. Doesn't mean I like it, but friends support each other, right?" She smiled a little at the last part, and Suga smiled too.   
"Yeah, they do. All of you guys are the best." He smiled down at Chris. "You go down now, bud. I'll come back later." He put Chris down, who immediately ran to his mother's pant leg to grab it.   
"Thanks again." He said, as she ushered him out of the house.   
"Any time, Suga. Really. So long as he's home from school, he'll be here, and you know I don't go anywhere." She laughed with him.   
"Okay. I'll come back tomorrow." He shook her hand, clasping it with both of his. She blushed a tiny bit, but smiled through it. "Tomorrow, then."   
*  
So Suga came back every day, just to hold Chris and practice flying straight up, diving, and taking sharp turns. Adding weight to his upper body was less devastating than adding it to his lower body, but it wasn't easy. He felt like he was running with ankle weights, or a backpack, or some other handicap like that. Now he knew why Daichi boxed with weights on his wrists when he went to the little gym that he frequented. 

Suga got stronger quickly, though, until it was easy to fly with Chris. His mom always stood and watched, and about a week in, after Chris had run off, Suga offered to take her. She had declined, blushing immensely, but agreed after only a moment of hesitation. Suga held her bridal style and launched up, wobbling more than he normally did, but didn't drop her. She had a vice grip around his neck, but he was still nervous. They took a lap around the yard, like he had with Chris the first time, and then dove to the ground again, only faltering a little in his landing. Chris clapped wordlessly from the patio, and the two of them laughed hugely at how well he imitated her that first day.   
*  
Preparations were made. They would do, essentially, what they had done last time, but this time through a thickly wooded area of the border, and Suga would carry Daichi, as much as Daichi protested. There was a lot of forest on the border between Canada and Idaho, so that's where they elected to go. They would get as far as they could, then hike out to the border, where Suga would take Daichi just over the border and then continue hiking until they got to where they could get rides to civilization to take a train into the states. It was helpful, having tons of people all over the world offering their assistance. Suga couldn't have asked for better fans and admirers, truly.

They practiced flying together, starting out with Suga just jumping off of things and flying down as slowly as he could, then graduating slowly to starting from the ground. He strained and wobbled the first few times, but his muscles strengthened quickly and soon he was able to take Daichi for short flights without issue.  
"I wish I could put you on my back, that would throw my weight off much less." Suga grumbled as they ate their dinner together one night, the week of their departure.  
"Well, sorry for being 200 pounds of muscle. I thought you liked them, but go ahead and complain about them, I guess." Daichi sassed back, crossing his arms, leaving Suga with a very nice view of his arm muscles.  
"No, no, I like them!" Suga rushed to correct himself, to which Daichi laughed uproariously.  
"Suga, honey, I love you, but that was really gay." Daichi said, still laughing.  
"YOU'RE really gay!" Suga retorted, crossing his arms and pouting, staring out the window. He was stopped in his pout as Daichi leaned over the table and took his chin in his hand, kissing him over their dinner.  
"Yeah, I guess I am." He said, softly, smiling at him.  
Suga blushed. "Good thing, too." He replied, winking. Daichi sat back down, and the two of them continued to eat dinner, snickering occasionally when they caught each others' eye.  
*  
The day came, and they shook hands with the owner of the hostel, who said "you know, I'll miss having you folks around." Suga blinked back tears for what felt like the millionth time that day, having gone around to say his goodbyes earlier.  
Daichi grabbed both of their backpacks and they walked together into the car waiting for them. Suga sat in the front seat, chatting animatedly with the girl who had offered to drive them as close to the border as she could. It was a two hour drive, but she said she had nothing better to do on her days off, and Suga had graciously accepted her help, as wary as Daichi had been about it. He didn't offer much chatter from the backseat, but Suga more than filled the silence.

When they reached their destination, Suga leaned across the front seat to hug her, and she hugged back enthusiastically. They had already promised to keep in touch, and she waved at them through the window as she drove off.  
"What?" Suga asked defensively when Daichi raised an eyebrow at him. "I make friends easily!"  
Daichi laughed and kissed Suga's cheek. "It's just cute, babe." He said, slinging his backpack on and helping Suga clip his smaller one between his wings. "Ready?" He asked.  
Suga looked out into the dark forest ahead of them and took a breath of cool, crisp air.  
"Ready." He replied, taking Daichi's hand.  
And they took the first step into the trees together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's over! It's posted! I'd get up and do a happy dance but the dog is sleeping on my leg!   
> Yes I know it's not over, really, I needed to cliffhanger it or I'd never do part 2. The sequel will come eventually, just stick around for a while. Again, this was what I wrote for nanowrimo, so this is literally all I did for the entire month. Hopefully I can get the next one done with a similar time frame, but it's also December and I'm the inventory manager and y'all know how retail and holidays are.   
> ANYWAY!!! That's all, folks!!! I hope y'all enjoyed!!!!!


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